Suffering an ankle injury can affect your ability to make a living, and medical treatment can be costly. Fortunately, work-related ankle injuries are compensable with Arizona workers’ compensation benefits.
Payouts for a workers’ comp ankle injury settlement range from $1,000 to more than $50,000, depending on various factors, such as the severity of your injury. In this article, we’ll show you which factors could affect your workers’ compensation settlement.
We will also show you how having a high-quality workers’ compensation attorney, like one of the workers’ compensation lawyers at the Matt Fendon Law Group, can help you to prepare your initial workers’ compensation claim or to appeal if your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance company denies your claim.
If you have suffered ankle injuries, call us today at (800) 229-3880 to schedule a confidential, free consultation with an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer in Phoenix.
Arizona Workers’ Compensation Settlements for Ankle Injuries
If your employer is covered under the Arizona system of workers’ compensation insurance, then in most cases of injuring your ankle at work, workers’ compensation benefits will be your solution.
An important advantage to you in using Arizona workers’ compensation compared to suing your employer in a personal injury case is that you do not have to prove that your employer was at fault for the accident or workplace environment that caused your ankle injury. All you need to establish is that the injury occurred in connection with your work. You do this through your doctor or other treating healthcare provider, who will document the ankle injury diagnosis in your medical records and develop a treatment plan for the injury.
For your employer, the advantage of participating in Arizona workers’ compensation is that it can avoid having to defend itself against employee personal injury claim lawsuits. Workers’ compensation benefits also do not include awards for non-economic damages like employee pain and suffering.
Types of Workers’ Compensation Benefits Available for Different Ankle Injuries
Depending on the seriousness of your ankle injury, how it limits your ability to work, and the kind of treatment you need, under Arizona workers’ compensation you may be able to claim from among the following benefits:
- Temporary partial disability: In this situation, your ankle injury might not prevent you from working, but it may require you to be temporarily assigned to fewer work hours or to light duty.
- Temporary total disability: This occurs when your ankle injury prevents you from working, but only for a relatively short time.
- Permanent partial disability: This describes a status in which your injury does not prevent you from returning to work, but does preclude you from being able to work full-time. This kind of benefit is based on medical considerations and not on lost wages, so you can receive permanent partial disability even if you can still work.
- Permanent total disability: If your ankle injury is severe, it could prevent you from going back to work in your past occupation or any other you might otherwise qualify for.
- Vocational rehabilitation: If you cannot return to your old job, Arizona workers’ compensation provides for job retraining and education.
- Transportation and mileage reimbursement: If you must travel to receive treatment for your ankle injury, then workers’ compensation can reimburse you for transportation and mileage costs to and from treatment appointments.
- Lost wages compensation: Arizona workers’ compensation can pay you up to two-thirds of your pre-injury salary or wage.
Lump Sum Settlement for Ankle Injury in Arizona
Like most work-related injuries, foot and ankle injuries can harm you directly and indirectly, and in short-term and long-term ways. If you choose to settle with your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance company, then Arizona workers’ compensation law allows you and the insurance company to negotiate a lump sum settlement agreement.
Should You Have an Arizona Workers’ Compensation Attorney?
In an ankle injury case, you can represent yourself in settlement negotiations with the workers’ compensation insurer. The Arizona system of workers’ compensation can be complex, however, and is subject to regulations and timelines that can become traps for unwary workers’ compensation claimants.
Know as well that whether or not you hire an Arizona workers’ compensation lawyer, like one of our expert workers’ comp attorneys at the Fendon Law Group, the workers’ comp insurance company will have a workers’ compensation lawyer working for it. And that lawyer is under no ethical obligation to help you get what you need, not to mention everything you deserve.
Factors to Consider in Arizona Workers’ Comp Ankle Injury Settlements
Although a minor ankle injury, like a Grade 1 sprain, may cost only a few hundred dollars (and less than a week away from work) to treat, more serious foot and ankle injuries can lead to six-figure workers’ compensation insurance ankle injury settlement amounts. Here we look at some of the considerations that go into negotiating ankle injury settlement compensation that is right for you.
The Seriousness of the Injury
The more serious the ankle injury, the more it will cost to treat and this will need to be factored into your workers’ compensation settlement agreement.
Symptoms and conditions that indicate more serious underlying ankle injuries can include:
- The level or grade of any impairment rating you may receive
- Displaced bones or complex fractures that require surgery to treat
- Nerve damage
- Amputation
- The need for an ankle replacement
- Permanent injury to a ligament or tendon
- Crush injuries or acute compartment syndrome
- Inability for the affected ankle to bear weight
- Permanent instability or walking with a limp
- Onset of arthritis
- Chondral injuries (injury to cartilage)
- Arthrofibrosis (pain, stiffness, and limited motion because of scar tissue formation)
- Synovitis (prolonged ankle swelling)
- Onset of complex regional pain syndrome, a debilitating and incurable condition also known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy.
Medical Treatment Costs
The average settlement costs to diagnose and treat an ankle injury can add up quickly. X-rays can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. A cast can be $2,000 or more. Treating a broken ankle injury will frequently require medical treatment that will cost in the five-figure range for physician fees and surgery if necessary.
Some specific ankle injury medical treatment cost items to keep in mind when determining your settlement value include:
- Hospital bills
- Physician bills
- Surgery bills
- Ambulance bills
- Radiology bills (X-rays, MRIs, CT scans)
- Bills for required medical equipment
- Physical and vocational rehabilitation costs
- Prescription medication costs
- Long-term, ongoing medical treatment costs for future medical expenses
Your Personal Characteristics
Factors the insurance company will consider when negotiating with you can include how old you are, your weight, what your life expectancy is, your prior medical history, and what your occupation is.
Non-Medical Costs
Aside from direct costs of treating your ankle injury, like your medical expenses, you can suffer other economic losses during your treatment. The most significant of these costs are the income and employment-related benefits you can lose while you cannot work. You will need to support lost income and benefits claims with documentary evidence from your employer.
Other non-medical costs that can factor into an average payout for ankle injuries in Arizona ankle injury workers’ compensation settlements include travel costs to and from treatment appointments or hiring someone to help you keep up with household activities if you are immobilized.
Talk to an Arizona Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Today
At the Matt Fendon Law Group, our highly skilled and compassionate workers’ compensation lawyers are ready to help you with all aspects of your ankle injury claim. We have helped Arizona workers with ankle injury cases in Phoenix and other locations in Maricopa County and Arizona.
We can help you:
- Understand what is happening. The process of obtaining ankle injury workers’ compensation benefits can be stressful and complicated. It’s critical that you have an experienced Arizona workers’ comp lawyer on your side.
- Deal with your employer. Employers often try to intimidate or take advantage of injured workers. The attorneys at Matt Fendon Law Group will stand up for your rights.
- Negotiate with the insurance carrier. Insurance carriers are less likely to give you the run-around when you have a skilled and aggressive attorney in your corner.
- Receive the compensation you deserve. While you recover from your ankle injury, workers’ compensation benefits pay a portion of your lost wages, as well as your medical bills. Our attorneys will fight to get you the benefits you need and deserve.
- Represent you at the hearing. A hearing before an administrative law judge could be required. When that is the case, our attorneys will represent you and argue your ankle injury claims on your behalf.
- Handle your appeal. If your workers’ compensation claim is denied, our experienced workers’ compensation lawyers can help you to put together the strongest argument on your behalf within the tight 90-day appeal deadline.
If you have suffered an ankle injury at work, call us today at (800) 229-3880 to schedule a confidential, free consultation with an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer in Phoenix. Or, if you prefer, you can contact us online to schedule a free consultation.
