When an employee is injured on the job, an accident report is usually filed and the employee’s injuries are treated. However, maritime workers, those working on or near the water, should be extra careful when going through the process.

Options on seeking medical advice

According to Tim Young, an attorney from New Orleans, Louisiana whose firm’s practice focuses on maritime injury cases, both the Jones Act and the Longshore Act allow the injured worker their choice of a treating physician. However, many maritime workers don’t often know that. Young explained, “Many companies do not advertise or explain that to the injured employee. However, if the employee takes the case to court, they are generally always allowed to choose their own physician.”

“If they choose the company doctor and feel as though they’re not getting a fair opinion, they can generally go to another doctor for a second opinion. However, we immediately caution clients that if they accept the company doctor’s treatment for a long period of time, they are essentially accepting the company doctor as their choice of doctor.”

Seek an unbiased opinion

Young says that when he interviews clients, he asks them how long they have seen the doctor and who chose that doctor. He continued, “There are some situations, not very often, but there are some situations where the employee receives very good care from the company doctor, is satisfied with it and everything moves forward. Most of the time, though, we counsel clients that it’s good to get treatment from a doctor that they choose, that they are familiar with and that has no ties to the company.”

A common misconception about accident reports

Most injured workers believe that an accident report must be created in order to bring a lawsuit. However, that is a misconception. According to Young:

An accident report is normally created after an accident occurs. It’s simply paperwork that documents how the accident occurred and perhaps why and what could have been done to avoid the accident. Accident reports are absolutely not necessary before filing suit. Many clients believe that if they do not fill out an accident report right away that they lose rights or that they’re not able to collect damages against the company. This is absolutely not true.

Some companies will even discourage clients from filling out accident reports and later tell them that they can no longer file suit or collect damages against the company because an accident report was not completed. Those statements are simply not correct and sometimes it’s an effort by the company to try to avoid fault or liability because of the way the accident happened. Very often a company will not want a report completed when the accident could have been avoided or someone was doing something improperly.

If you have been injured in an accident on or near the water, contact an attorney whose practice focuses on maritime issues. To contact an experienced maritime attorney, please click here.