Weber Gallagher Simpson Stapleton Fires & Newby LLP

November 02, 2009 : Attorneys Prevail in Workers' Compensation Petition

Partner Paul M. Fires and associate John P. Zeigler successfully represented an employer, prevailing in a UR-Review Petition, estimated to save in excess of $100,000 per year in medical costs. Claimant sustained a bilateral epicondylitis work injury in 2000. Following surgery, the claimant’s use of opioid analgesic pain medications escalated and included his use of a long-acting narcotic and multiple short acting narcotics prescribed simultaneously. By that point, the employer was paying in excess of $14,000 per month. The workers’ compensation judge determined that the claimant’s use of such large doses of multiple opioid analgesics without documented subjective improvement to his condition was unreasonable and unnecessary. The judge determined further that the claimant failed to demonstrate the existence of any published authority or medical peer review literature supporting that use of Actiq was recommended for non-terminal patients at the levels prescribed for this type of injury.