At Hawks Quindel, S.C., our Wisconsin workers' compensation attorneys help nurses, CNAs, technicians, aides, and other healthcare workers pursue benefits after work-related injuries and occupational illnesses. Patient transfers, repetitive lifting, needlesticks, workplace violence, and infectious exposures can all create workers' compensation issues for people whose jobs involve caring for others.
Healthcare workers can face another problem during recovery, namely, pressure to return to "light duty" that does not actually match their medical restrictions. Our lawyers help injured healthcare workers understand their rights, address disputed benefits, and pursue their claims through to a resolution.
Securing Disability Benefits Rightfully Owed to Wisconsin Workers
Why Choose Hawks Quindel, S.C. for a Healthcare Worker’s Comp Claim?
The lawyers at Hawks Quindel, S.C. have represented Wisconsin workers for more than 60 years. Founded in 1959, our firm has grown to more than 30 attorneys while remaining focused on employees and individuals rather than employers and insurance companies.
Our workers' compensation attorneys understand that a healthcare injury can affect your ability to continue physically demanding clinical work. A nurse who cannot safely transfer patients, a CNA with permanent lifting restrictions, or a technician unable to perform repetitive tasks may face questions about temporary benefits, permanent disability, suitable work, and future earning capacity.
Clear medical documentation can be especially important when there is a dispute over restrictions or about whether an injured healthcare worker can safely return to clinical duties. As our workers’ compensation attorney, Brandon Jubelirer emphasizes: "The doctors, as I tell my clients, make or break the case."
What Injuries Lead to Workers' Comp Claims for Healthcare Workers?
Healthcare work creates injury risks that differ from those in many other occupations. Some injuries happen suddenly, while others result from repetitive work or occupational exposure. We handle claims related to:
Patient-Handling Back and Shoulder Injuries
Moving, lifting, repositioning, and catching patients can place significant stress on the back, neck, and shoulders. A worker might be injured during one difficult transfer or develop a condition after repeatedly performing physically demanding patient-care tasks.
Back and shoulder conditions can be particularly disruptive for nurses and nursing staff because even after symptoms improve, restrictions on lifting, reaching, pushing, or pulling may interfere with essential clinical duties.
Repetitive Strain Injuries
Healthcare jobs can also involve repetitive physical demands, including repositioning patients, moving equipment, reaching, bending, and performing the same procedures throughout a shift.
Wisconsin workers' compensation is not limited to injuries caused by one identifiable accident. Qualifying occupational conditions that develop gradually because of work may also be compensable.
Needlestick and Occupational Exposure Claims
Nurses, technicians, aides, and other clinical workers may be exposed to blood, bodily fluids, infectious diseases, chemicals, or other workplace hazards.
Wisconsin's Department of Workforce Development (DWD) instructs employees to report both work injuries and suspected occupational diseases. Whether an illness qualifies for workers' compensation depends on the circumstances and the evidence connecting it to employment.
A needlestick or other exposure should therefore not be dismissed simply because no immediate symptoms appear. However, exposure alone does not necessarily establish a compensable occupational disease; the facts and the resulting medical condition matter.
Injuries Caused by Patients
Healthcare workers may be struck, kicked, pushed, bitten, grabbed, or otherwise injured by patients while performing their jobs. These incidents can cause fractures, strains, concussions, or other injuries that interfere with a worker's ability to continue patient care.
The fact that the injury resulted from a patient's actions rather than from equipment or a traditional workplace accident does not, by itself, place it outside the workers' compensation system.
Securing Disability Benefits Rightfully Owed to Wisconsin Workers
Can You Get Workers' Comp for a Patient-Handling Injury?
A work-related patient-handling injury may qualify for Wisconsin workers' compensation benefits. For example, a nurse may help transfer a patient from a bed to a chair. If the patient suddenly shifts weight and the nurse injures her back while preventing a fall, there may be a clear traumatic event. In other cases, years of lifting, repositioning, and supporting patients may contribute to the gradual development of a back or shoulder condition.
The distinction matters because a cumulative injury may require different evidence than a single-event injury. The worker's medical history, job duties, frequency of patient handling, and medical opinions about causation can become important.
Workers should make sure their medical providers understand what their jobs actually require. Saying that you "work as a nurse" does not explain how often you transfer patients, lift equipment, stand, bend, reach, or respond physically during a typical shift.
Does Workers' Comp Cover Injuries When a Patient Attacks You?
A healthcare worker injured by a patient while performing job duties may have a Wisconsin workers' compensation claim. These incidents can occur during routine care, transfers, emergency situations, behavioral-health treatment, or interactions with confused or agitated patients.
A nurse or aide may initially view the incident as simply part of the job, particularly if dealing with difficult patient behavior is common in that setting. But an injury does not become insignificant merely because patient aggression is an occupational risk.
Report the incident and resulting injury rather than assuming that you have no claim because a patient caused it. Wisconsin DWD advises workers to report work-related injuries promptly and obtain necessary medical care.
Can Infectious Disease or Occupational Exposure Qualify for Workers' Comp?
Potentially. Wisconsin workers' compensation can cover occupational disease as well as traumatic injuries.
An infectious disease claim requires more than showing that the worker was exposed to illness at work. Evidence must establish the necessary connection between the disease and employment. DWD's guidance addressing occupational illness emphasizes evidence tying the condition to a definite employment-related cause, including the circumstances and location of workplace exposure.
Healthcare workers should report suspected occupational diseases and maintain records that can help establish when and how the relevant exposure occurred. These cases can become fact-intensive, particularly when an illness is also prevalent outside the workplace. Our attorneys can evaluate the employment and medical evidence to determine how Wisconsin workers' compensation law applies.
What Happens When "Light Duty" Isn't Really Light Duty?
This can be one of the most important return-to-work issues for an injured nurse, CNA, aide, or technician. A doctor might release a nurse to work with restrictions such as no lifting above a certain weight, limited bending, or restrictions on pushing and pulling. The worker may then be told that "light duty" is available.
The label does not determine whether the work is appropriate. The actual duties matter.
Clinical work can change quickly. A supposedly light assignment may still involve helping a patient stand, repositioning someone in bed, moving equipment, responding to an emergency, or performing other tasks that exceed the worker's restrictions.
According to the Wisconsin DWD, restricted work should fall within the limitations established by the worker's physician. Its guidance identifies work outside physician restrictions as an example of an unreasonable restricted-work offer.
Workers should understand their work restrictions and communicate when assigned duties appear inconsistent with them. Medical restrictions should be specific enough to describe what the worker can safely do.
What If Light Duty Pays Less?
Returning with restrictions can also affect wages. A healthcare worker might have reduced hours, lose differentials associated with regular shifts, or be assigned lower-paid work during recovery. Wisconsin provides temporary partial disability (TPD) benefits in qualifying cases when medical circumstances related to the injury result in wage loss due to reduced hours or lower-paid light-duty work.
If appropriate restricted work is unavailable, different temporary disability issues may arise. DWD states that when restricted work is not available, an eligible worker can remain entitled to temporary total disability until work becomes available or the worker reaches the end of healing, whichever occurs first.
In general, a return to work does not necessarily mean that all workers' compensation benefits stop.
What If Your Injury Keeps You From Returning to Nursing or Clinical Work?
Some injuries leave permanent restrictions that make it difficult or impossible for the worker to return to their former clinical role. A nurse with permanent lifting restrictions, for example, may be able to perform certain sedentary tasks but may be unable to safely handle patients.
Wisconsin DWD recognizes that when a physician concludes an injured worker cannot permanently perform the former job, vocational rehabilitation may become relevant. Permanent impairment may also support permanent partial disability benefits.
Other issues, including loss of earning capacity, may apply depending on the nature of the injury and its effect on the worker’s ability to earn wages.
There is also an important distinction between workers' compensation and private long-term disability insurance. An LTD policy may separately evaluate whether you can perform your own occupation or another occupation. Healthcare workers dealing with both systems can review our guide to own-occupation and any-occupation disability standards for more information about that separate analysis.
What Workers' Compensation Benefits May Be Available?
The benefits available depend on the injury and its consequences. Wisconsin workers' compensation can provide payment for reasonable and necessary medical treatment related to a compensable injury or occupational disease.
Other benefits may include temporary disability while you recover, temporary partial disability when restricted work results in qualifying wage loss, and permanent disability when an injury leaves lasting impairment. Our resources on permanent partial disability benefits and other Wisconsin workers' compensation benefits provide more detail about how these benefits are determined.
How Can Our Wisconsin Workers' Compensation Lawyers Help?
Healthcare workers' claims can change considerably as treatment progresses and return-to-work issues develop. Depending on your situation, our attorneys can:
- Develop medical and employment evidence connecting the injury or occupational disease to your work.
- Address disputes involving temporary benefits, medical treatment, and light-duty assignments.
- Review permanent restrictions and available permanent disability benefits.
- Evaluate return-to-work, vocational rehabilitation, and loss-of-earning-capacity issues.
- Negotiate disputed claims and represent injured workers at hearings when necessary.
Learn more about the Wisconsin Workers' Compensation claims process and benefits that may be available during a consultation with our team.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Workers' Comp for Healthcare Workers
Can a nurse get workers' comp for a back injury from lifting a patient?
Yes, a work-related back injury from lifting, transferring, or repositioning a patient can qualify for Wisconsin workers' compensation. Claims may involve a specific lifting incident or a condition that develops through repeated patient handling.
Does workers' comp cover a needlestick injury?
A needlestick should be reported as a work-related incident. Whether workers' compensation benefits are payable depends on the resulting medical care, condition, and circumstances of the claim.
Can I file workers' comp if a patient injured me?
A healthcare worker injured by a patient while performing work duties may have a workers' compensation claim. Patient aggression does not automatically exclude an injury from workers' compensation coverage.
Do I have to accept light duty after a nursing injury?
The details matter. Wisconsin DWD recognizes restricted work as unreasonable when it falls outside physician-imposed restrictions. Workers should compare the actual duties offered with their documented medical limitations rather than relying solely on a "light duty" label.
Talk to a Wisconsin Healthcare Workers' Compensation Attorney at Hawks Quindel, S.C. to Learn More
Nurses, CNAs, technicians, aides, and other healthcare workers spend their careers caring for people in need. When that work causes an injury or occupational illness, you may need someone focused on protecting your rights and your ability to support yourself.
The workers' compensation attorneys at Hawks Quindel, S.C. help Wisconsin healthcare workers pursue benefits, address disputed light-duty assignments, and resolve other problems that develop during their claims. We work for employees, not insurance companies.
Contact Hawks Quindel, S.C. to begin the intake process and learn whether your matter qualifies for a free case screening. Call our Madison office at (608) 257-0040 or our Milwaukee office at 414-271-8650, or fill out our confidential contact form.