Any type of workplace injury can lead to serious medical conditions and significant pain. Many of the people who sustain a workplace injury in San Francisco may be unable to return to work for at least a period of time. More severe injuries like a spinal cord injury, a traumatic brain injury or beyond could lead to the worker never being able to return to work at all. One of the most common methods in the past of treating these different types of injuries was to prescribe opioids. However, there are serious side effects that can outweigh the benefits of opioid use.
An examination of opioid prescription in workers’ compensation cases conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the entities and agencies responsible for treating injured workers are doing a better job at reducing the number of powerful painkillers given out as prescription. The average day’s supply per opioid prescription increased by 33% between 2006 and 2015 and the amount of opioids prescribed per capita in 2015 was 3 times as high when compared with 1999.
In general, opioid prescriptions still remain relatively high across the country but those employees who have suffered injuries on the job are less likely to get an opioid prescription. If you have recently sustained a workplace injury and have questions about your rights and the other treatments such as surgeries, rehabilitation and opportunities to reduce your pain outside of opioid prescriptions, you may be curious about your rights as an injured employee and how to proceed through the workers’ compensation system in California. If this applies to you, you should consult with an experienced San Francisco workers’ compensation attorney to learn more.