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Injured decry state of workers' comp
Thursday, June 29, 2000 By Jim McKay, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
A Beaver County man crippled in an industrial accident could not hold back tears yesterday as he described five operations, a daily regimen of medications and his struggle to hold onto workers' compensation benefits.
John A. McKay of Monaca told a panel of legislators convened by state Sen. Gerald J. LaValle, D-Rochester, that his constant pain is aggravated by relentless pressure from an insurance company seeking to reduce or discontinue his benefits or push him into a one-time settlement.
"Most of the time, I do not enjoy my life at all," said McKay, whose left knee, leg and back were hurt in 1992 when a scaffold he was working on collapsed at Zinc Corp. of America. "I even pray for death."
He railed against the insurer, physicians and others involved in a system that he said delays or tries to avoid paying benefits to injured workers. He blamed the Ridge administration and the legislators who voted for proposals that have helped lower the cost of workers' comp.
There were no insurance companies, business supporters or government advocates at the hearing to defend the system. It was a forum only for frustrated workers who feel that their voices often go unheard.
LaValle said he hoped the hearing would be the first step toward remedying what he sees as injustices related to Act 57, a 1996 workers' comp reform measure. He said he held the hearing at the Beaver County Community College because the Republican leadership would not support holding one in Harrisburg.
Blaine Stanziana waved a fistful of unpaid medical bills at the panel and claimed he has been abused by a workers' comp system ever since his head was split open in a forklift accident in 1979.
Undiagnosed epilepsy from that accident led to a workplace fall in 1988, he said. Just 15 months ago, Stanziana underwent emergency surgery to repair a related neck injury that he said threatened to paralyze him. He said $155,000 in medical bills remain unpaid.
"I have been injured more than half my life. My leg hurts. My neck hurts. My shoulder hurts," said Stanziana, 42, who drew sustained applause when he asked: "How does a workers' compensation lawyer sleep at night?"
Karen Pushinsky told the panel she blames her husband Terry's 1998 suicide on a system that denied him benefits. Both she and her husband were coping with work injuries at the time.
Paula Chiodo, a utility worker for US Airways, described harassment and demeaning work assignments she said came after she injured an ankle while working. She called company medical reviews on related ailments "a complete joke."
Chiodo said her young son and parents were both put under surveillance by the company and that she and other injured workers sorted used nuts and bolts in an area given demeaning names, including the "rubber room."
"I did not ask to get blown through a hangar door. There's nothing fake about my injuries," she said. "They want you to quit and walk away with nothing."
David H. Wilderman, legislative director for the state AFL-CIO, said reforms to the workers' comp system have destroyed the basic concepts of fair and prompt decisions.
He cited a recent study by an insurance-funded research institute that found only 40 percent of claims were given a determination within a statutory time frame of 21 days. The state says compliance has improved to 57 percent, a result Wilderman called unacceptable.
"Can you imagine if we had 60 percent compliance with the obligation to stop at a red light," he asked. "No one would accept this as a tolerable standard for safety."
Wilderman's long testimony criticized Act 57 for, among other things, offsetting workers' comp benefits if the person receives a pension, jobless benefits or Social Security. He described it as a "windfall for insurers and a crushing loss of income to the injured worker."
He complained about the lack of real vocational rehabilitation, cost-of-living adjustments for doctors but not for injured workers, and unrealistic impairment standards that work against the most seriously injured.
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