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 ATT Employee I am an employee of AT&T Mobility, I was injured August 2nd, and took leave on the 8th. I fell down my back stairs and shattered 2 vertebra in my neck. It took 4 months to get my sugary, during which time no one knew that my neck was broken. I was put on STD for a few weeks and then denied on the basis that I was not disabled. They said they had tried to speak with my doctor and she could not be reached, so their doctor determined that I was fit to return to work. At that time they had information from my doctor and PT department that stated that I wasn't able to return to work because they did not have a full picture of what was the issue and that I was pending an MRI because I had no use of my right side, my face was numb, as was my right arm. I had excruciating pain in my right side, head, and eye and they had yet to determine the cause. Come to find out, they had spoken to my doctor whom told them she didn't feel comfortable with they way they asked their questions and would gladly type a summation of my prognosis to that point and fax it to them that day, which they declined. I then received my MRI and a letter from a Neurosurgeon at which time after 46 days without income they reinstated me after my appeal.
I was approved until the 18th of January, in which time I was to provide them with more documentation stating my inability to return to work. I had my surgery on November 12th at which time they, during surgery found that my vertebra C 5 and 6 were shattered. At which time they had to put a scope down my spine and remove fragments, remove the fragment that had be causing the spinal stinosis in which I was diagnosed with and the fragments that were imbeded in my trunk nerve which had caused the impingement and numbness, remove the vertebra, replace with cadaver bone, a titanium plate and 4 screws.
I have been in therapy only 2 months now and cannot do anymore than 15 minutes of any type of repetitive motion, no lifting, they aren't even putting me on an exercise bike or weights of any kind. I go in the pool, get muscle manipulation, and E-stem treatments. I am still in an enormous amount of pain and things are moving very slowly. Worse yet the amount of stress being put on me by STD. As of January 12th I received a call from STD stating that I was to report to work within 24hrs. That according to the notes from December 8th, 3 weeks post-op I could return to work. At that time I was just able to leave the house because the threat of infection was no longer eminent, and had yet to even start therapy. I told them that I had a letter stating that I had until January 18th to provide them with more documentation and that I was told I had at least 6 more weeks before they were even going to re-evaluate me. I was denied the next day. I received the denial packet and the letter which stated the reason for denial had nothing to do with the information I was given on the 12th, and everything in the letter was an utter fabrication. They said they spoke to my surgeon on January 7th, sent my limitations on the 8th and that I was able to go back to work.
They never spoke to my surgeon, my surgeon hadn't even met with the PT department for a team meeting on my progress at that point, and no correspondence of any kind was sent to them from my spinal center. I've been fighting this with a broken neck for 7 months now at my expense of over $200 for records and faxes and only have received 3 months of disability payments.
I am now in the process of putting together a rebuttal package from my spinal center with a letter from my surgeon, the disability dept., the records dept., and the PT team to prove that the entire denial letter was a complete and total lie in the hopes that I am reinstated because otherwise I will have to appeal again and that takes 45 days.
My 65 year old mother had to go get a job to pay my bills, my son had to take a semester off from college to help take care of me, and because I could not pay his tuition. All I am trying to do is get better so I can go back to work. Sedgwick has lied, denied, and has effected my entire family. I am in counseling now because of the stress of this ordeal had put me to the point of considering suicide. I am 35 years old.
I can't get a lawyer to help me because "There is no money in it.", and my Union has just turned their back on me and will not help me, and well... AT&T just wants to make sure I don't cost them anymore money. I am looking at being terminated, and I have not a penny to my name because of this company and their complete disregard for the law. But, hey... I guess they can get away with it because we can't get representation because, "There is no money in it."
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. (1) 13 Year ATT Employee ON June 18 2008, (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!
(4) Anonymous ATT Employee I am a healthy att employee apx 4 years ago i developed a highly dangerous and contagious staf nfection (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. |
