LA County Countinues Practice of Wasteful Medical Treatment Denials

County Counsel are the attorneys that represent Los Angeles County to defend against work comp claims filed by County employees. In my opinion this group of attorneys do nothing but cause frivolous and unnecessary delays and denials when ever possible. It is upsetting because their actions costs us taxpayers more money when their employees get worse while waiting for reasonable medical procedures to be approved. In this case those procedures were approved by all the doctors who have evaluated the employee, including the Court appointed doctor. Below is a case on point in which the judge approved doctor has requested some medical tests and the County is still denying those tests.  I sent the following email to the assigned attorney and his supervisor after I was unsuccessful getting either one to answer the phone to discuss their  actions. So far they are "unavailable for comment".

To: Benjamin Franklin, County counsel, County of Los Angeles

     Leah Davis, County Counsel, County of Los Angeles

Date: 10/16/09

I REPRESENT MS. ZHAO. BACK SURGERY REQUEST IS MORE THAN 2 YEARS OLD NOW. WE WENT TO AME SOHN 3/9/09 AND HE AGREES WITH THE PROCEDURE AS REQUESTED BY PTP SURGEON BAKSHIAN. SOHN SUGGESTED FURTEHR DISCOGRAM BEFORE SURGERYYOU SENT THIS THRU UR IN AUGUST AND IT WAS DENIED. YOU DID NOT EVEN GIVE UR THE AME REPORT TO REVIEW. YOU HAVE LONG DELAYED THIS CLAIM TO THE CLEAR DETRIMENT TO YOUR EMPLOYEE. IT MAKES NO SENSE WHAT YOU ARE DOING, UNTIL YOU REALIZE YOU ARE REALLY DOING NOTHING AT ALL. YOUR UR IS INAPPROPRIATE AS WE HAVE A COURT APPOINTED AME, UR WAS UNTIMELY, UR WAS NOT PROVIDED WITH ALL THE DOCUMENTS. YOU ARE KILLING YOUR EMPLOYEE THROUGH YOUR ENDLESS DELAYS AND UR BS. IT IS TIME YOU HAD A MEETING REGARDING THIS CASE AND MADE SOME REAL DECISIONS FOR THE HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF YOUR EMPLOYEE. YOU HAVE CAUSED UNNECESSARY DELAY AND MENTAL ANGUISH FOR THIS FINE YOUNG WOMAN AND IT IS MORE THAN SHE CAN BEAR MUCH LONGER. YOUR DELAYS AND DENIALS OF AME APPROVED MEDICAL TREATMENT ARE ONLY PROLONGING HER PAIN AND SUFFERING AND CAUSING HER MORE PHYSICAL PAIN AND EMOTIONAL DESPAIR. YOUR JOB IS TO DEFENDA A CLAIM, BUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING IN THIS CASE IS NOT A DEFENSE, IT IS BREAKING THE LAW. I EXPECT IMMEDIATE ACTION IN THE FORM OF AUTHORIZATION FOR THOSE DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES AS REQUESTED BY THE SURGEON AND APPROVED BY AME SOHN.

Gary A. Jackson
Jackson & Jackson

3950 Long Beach Blvd., Suite 201

Long Beach, CA 90807

(562) 426-9500 -- voice

(562) 426-9900-- Fax