Personal Injury Law

Woman Paralyzed by Truck Accident Cannot Find Doctor Who Will Accept Medicaid

By Jeffrey Lowe

Last month, I wrote about an accident in which a young southern Illinois couple suffered a devastating trucking accident on their wedding night. Their car collided with a grain truck that pulled out in front of them, leaving Kelli Wisneski, 20, paralyzed from the chest down. Her new husband, Chad Wisneski, 20, suffered seven shoulder fractures in the accident. The Belleville News-Democrat published a follow-up article about the Wisneskis on April 11 discussing Kelli Wisneski?s problems getting access to good medical care. On top of the debilitating health problems that she now suffers because of the accident, Kelli cannot find a doctor to help her stay current on the eighteen prescription medications she needs. As a southern Illinois semi truck crash attorney, I believe this article shows how important money can be for victims of very serious accidents.

According to the article, the eighteen primary care doctors Kelli has tried to see have rejected her as a patient, in part because she relies on Medicaid for her care. Medicaid rules require patients like her to use a primary care doctor to obtain prescriptions. But the Wisneskis have found it nearly impossible to find a doctor for Kelli, in part because doctors don?t want to deal with the paperwork that her Medicaid health coverage entails, or accept its payments, which are low compared with private insurance. They also don't want to handle her case because it?s so complicated. As a result, Kelli actually ran out of medicines she had been legally prescribed and can pay for. That includes a blood pressure pill that keeps her from passing out due to her paralysis, as well as pain medication that gives her relief from constant back and shoulder pain and lets her sleep. Generous members of their southern Illinois community have helped, but they had not found a long-term solution as of the article?s publication.

Accidents involving large trucks often involve serious harm, as I know all too well from my work as a St. Louis tractor-trailer accident lawyer. Very few people confronted with a devastating injury think first about money, but it?s vitally important for helping people with new disabilities ensure that they?ll be taken care of. The article notes that Kelli spent months in the hospital and in a rehabilitation clinic. Now, Kelli's mother and Chad share the 24-hour-a-day job of caring for Kelli, who needs help with eating, bathing, and other basic functions. All of this costs the family money and time, including time they could spend at work. In cases like this, someone like Kelli and her family may be able to sue an at-fault truck driver, and the company that employed the driver, to pay for medical bills, caregiving, a lifetime of lost wages and other costs. They can also recover compensation for living with a permanent disability, physical pain, emotional suffering and other losses.

Full post as published by Trucking Accident Attorney Blog on April 15, 2010 (boomark / email).