Sedgwick CMS Crime Stories

 "Killing the Claimant with  ATT - Sedgwick Kindness"

Notice is hereby given to Sedgwick CMS!!

If you retaliate against these people for telling their stories all efforts will be engaged to prosecute you to the fullest extent allowed under law!

 

 

Anonymous Physician that treats sick and injured ATT Employees and other victims of Sedgwick CMS

You have a moral compass with superb navigation of our system  to define inequities in disability mismanagement.  You will change public opinion of the process. 
I only wish I had one master- my patients. My time is so encumbered by process that I have no time to advance my clinical knowledge, get reasonable and timely consultations and treatment from equally encumbered colleagues. The patient is always the looser!
How did we get here?  Why do we remain in bondage? When will the medical revolution begin? Will we always be slaves to the medically untrained decision makers in politics who view patients as cost centers with voracious consumer appetites?

(1) 13 Year ATT Employee

ON June 18 2008,
I was removed from the AT&T Rocky Hill Ct CCC via ambulance with a severe panic attack & with what I & the rest of the office thought was a heart attack.
I spent 3 days in Hartford Hospital cardiac unit in Hartford, Ct. I was advised to do a follow-up with my primary physician (((Redacted)))) in two weeks of which she suggested I seek counseling, of which I obtained the services of (((Redacted)))) a counselor recommended by AT&T's medical plan.
I had been diagnosed as having been under extreme job related stress conditions with in addition my wife had suffered several life threatening brain seizures & physical handicap problems an 80 year old person might expect. (my wife is 48 years old) In the same time frame my mother was dying of cancer, she passed away in September 2008 & my father had severe arterial surgeries I had to take time to care for them several times, they live in Florida I had been doing the best I could managing all aspects. What pushed me over was the overwhelming stress put on me at work added by the fact I now commute 600 miles a week., Approximately 1 1/2 - 2 hrs each way. Basically I shut down & in the company provided counselors words (((Redacted)))) said I was a danger to myself & others if I did not stop & take some time to regroup & distress. I went to counseling each week for about 6 weeks & followed up again with my primary Dr. & advised her I did not feel as though I was making enough progress & wanted to try some medications to see if that would help. They finally did & I was able to return although sooner than we had discussed but because Sedgwick was giving such a hard time saying I was not covered based on the case workers findings I returned as my funds were all but depleted. When you have a family of 5 & a mortgage of $1400 a month plus an ill spouse it does not take long.
I went through all the extensions & Sedgwick kept saying the same thing the notes were not sufficient even though the Doctors both agreed I needed time to regain mental health. I finally had to request a final appeal & while I was in Florida in December taking care of my dad again in to January due to 3 more surgeries Sedgwick conveniently claimed they were not able to contact my Doctors for a Doctor to Doctor conference & my appeal was denied on January 30Th forcing me to replace 2 weeks conditional pay & ultimately a loss of approximately $7000 I checked with my doctors & both said they were never contacted!
They also say this is not covered because it is a result of personal issues!
I thought ill was ill right? physical, emotional, mental or substance!
I Need help I feel as though I have been railroaded please contact me!

(2) 30 Year SBC / ATT Employee (filed by Jose)

Bob was a Senior Engineer in the Central Office Planning department of what is now AT&T.  He recently retired after 30 years of faithful service.  Only once during his lengthy career did Bob become too ill to work and felt the need “to utilize” of the Short Term Disability Coverage” he had worked for and been promised by then SBC now AT&T.

 

Bob was prescribed some eye drops to control the fluid pressure in his eyes.  One would think, eye drops, no big deal.  Unfortunately, after a period of time, Bob experienced some rather severe side effects.   

 

Bob’s system reacted in a way that made it difficult to relate his symptoms to the eye drops.  Bob first thought that he had developed a simple sore throat and treated it as such.  After a couple of weeks of a worsening cough he finally was forced to call in sick one Monday morning as he wasn’t sleeping, coughing a lot, and felt as though he had a severe cold,  By Wednesday, after two days of bed rest, he wasn’t feeling any better so he went to an Urgent Care Center where he was prescribed an inhaler.  Bob still didn’t feel well enough to go to work and missed the remainder of the week.

 

When the weekend arrived, Bob was getting worse and was now experiencing spasms in his throat, still not sleeping, and having difficulty breathing.  The doctors at the hospital put him on steroids (to reduce swelling) for three days.  Bob Continued to worsen!  Mid week, he went back to the Urgent Care Center where the doctors were unable to determine the problem and sent him to an Ear Nose and Throat specialist who recognized that Bob had Acid Reflux.  The doctor prescribed him some medication to target the Acid Reflux and Valium to help Bob relax and get some much needed sleep.  Bob was still unable to speak, having difficulty breathing and swallowing, and was reeling from the effects of Valium and Tylenol plus Codeine that he had been prescribed.

 

After over two weeks, things weren’t improving, and Bob returned to the hospital where X-Rays were taken.  Unfortunately they didn’t reveal anything useful in the diagnosis and treatment of Bob’s problems.  After another couple of days, Bob went to a different hospital and a tube was inserted into his throat to monitor the spasms causing the Acid Reflux.  The monitor detected 26 occurrences in 24 hours.  This is a lot!

 

Bob is now on the Acid Reflux medication, Valium, and Tylenol plus Codeine.  He is put on a special diet in the hopes that it will help.  He is still having trouble breathing, can’t talk, and is certainly not safe to drive.  Three weeks have passed and he’s still not improving.

 

Bob is going nowhere fast.  At this point, he had his wife drive him to a routine appointment with his eye doctor that had been scheduled months in advance.  His doctor, in addition to checking his eyes, learned of Bob’s Acid Reflux, and correctly diagnosed that Bob had experienced a rare but well known side effect to the eye drops.  That side effect was:  Acid Reflux.  The eye doctor changed Bob’s prescription and things started improving.

 

Bob was out for a total of 6 weeks before his condition improved to the point that he could return to work.  He, being a trusting employee, believed that his absence would be covered by his Short Term Disability Coverage.  Little did he know that Sedgwick had no intention of paying him his benefits and that his claim had been denied.  Flabbergasted, he was forced to use vacation time to cover his illness.

 

He got letters from all of the doctors involved, put together a formal appeal and sent it in confident that the “error” would be corrected.  After he submitted his appeal, a Sedgwick representative called him to tell him that his appeal had been denied.  Not entirely surprising based upon the experience of others that have gone before him.  The representative then told him in her best sarcastic voice (knowing full well that it wasn’t worth the attorney’s fees to recover 6 weeks pay) that “you can always sue the company”.

 

This story is just another example on how the “AT&T Disability Scam” is played out with trusting employees.  Bob’s story is remarkable in that his was a short, low dollar claim.  But again, a small claim here, a small claim there, and the AT&T and Sedgwick executives have some real money to stuff into their pockets.

 

(3) 25 Year ATT employee

God Bless all of you for this website! I, too, am in the middle of an appeal with these low life, scumbag, pieces of s##t of this earth!

If my appeal is approved, can I still share my horror story?

I'm spreading the word and sending this website everywhere to expose these low lifes!

Coincidentally, I have the same HMO (UC Davis in Sacramento) which is the HMO on item #4 of your website that UC Davis filed charges with the
FBI for forgery.


God Bless UC Davis, too! It happened during the same time frame as my disability and I will be researching public record to find out who the attorney handling this case is!

Thanks again for providing this service!

(4) Anonymous ATT Employee

 I am a healthy att employee apx 4 years ago i developed a highly dangerous and contagious staf nfection
when i called smaart the first thing the girl said was is i find out your lying im gonna take your pay away
smaarts dr? felt i should be back to work a wk to 10 days earlier than my dr/ so i did not infect anyone i did
stay out and did not get pd for that time. complaining about the girls threats and attitude did no good.

(5) 28 year ATT Employee

hi, can I ask something? I been around for 28 years and my mom is terminally ill with cancer. I asked to move my seat to a quiet area, well they said yes, but now because someone complained I have to get a seat accommodation from Smartt. I never heard of such a thing. So I moved my seat and had to move back....I guess the management in my office won't let anyone move their seat without an accommodation from Smartt. I had to go thru a 20 minute grill from SMartt and now my doctor has to release my personal records to smartt that i am indeed stressed. I guess someone else complained because they had to do it, which I knew nothing about. My mother is dying, I wouldn't lie, and I am having a difficult time, but a seat accommodation, is this right, it's such an invasion of privacy. I did not want to get into anything with my boss, but I have been around a long time I never heard that you needed a medical accommodation to move your seat...I moved back to my old seat, but I never heard of such a thing. Smartt made me feel so awkward, so did my boss, it's just a hard time in my life, I just wanted to get an end seat by the window for awhile to get thru a bad period.. Thanks for listening.

(6) Anonymous ATT Employee

Unfortunately I can believe everything you say. In 2005 while working for AT&T here in Connecticut I fell of the back of my bucket truck shattering my pelvis, fracturing my left femur both wrists and injuring my back. I had to fight with Sedgwick to get my hip replaced. It took 13 months and an attorney to get this done. The stress of this coupled with the fact that they stopped my disability payments every 2 weeks meaning a $36,000 loss of income caused me to have a heart attack 33 days later due in part to the decision on Sedgwick's part to kick me out of a rehab center after 8 days because they didn't think the doctor was correct when he said I should stay for a month because they ran into complications with the surgery causing me to bleed out on the operating table (now they think they are doctors too). So 3 days after Thanksgiving 2006 I am having 4 stents put in my chest to save my life, keep in mind that at the time of my injury I was a physically fit 51 year old active man. To this day I am still waiting for 2 operations on my back as I have a nerve root protruding from my spine and have 3 vertebrae that need to be fused. All this results in constant pain no matter what I do. I am back to work with this pain and have been taking percocets since the day of my injury. The reason I am still waiting? Sedgwick says I didn't hurt my back in that fall from my truck because I didn't complain about it soon enough. I have another appointment with a workers comp. comm. on April 9.I feel your pain brother. Keep up the fight.