Example 1: 

 Repetitive Back Injury With 

 Spinal Fusion Surgery

 The arbitrator's findings relied in part on testimony

 by the employer's medical expert at his deposition,

 on cross examination:

 In this case the worker loaded stacks

 of cardboard into a machine.  He

 ended up going to the company 

 doctor when his back really started

 to hurt. 

 The company doctor wrote that he

 did not think the job had anything to

 do with the injury.  Then the company

 sent the worker to another "expert"

 witness doctor, who wrote a 19 page

 report about how the worker had a

 preexisting back problem that was

 not affected by his job. 

 The employer offered $0 to settle

 the case right up to the date of trial.

 Attorney Silverman presented the

 worker's spinal surgeon at

 an evidence deposition and later

 took the case to trial.  The order

 of the arbitrator is pasted to the right.

 The worker was awarded benefits

 for loss of use of 35% of his "person

 as a whole" ($69,006) and $31,545 in

 unpaid benefits for lost work, plus

 over $110,000 in medical expenses.

 Example 2: 

 Repetitive Hands and Arms 

 Injury With Surgery

 In this case the employee did a

 host of repetitive jobs with her

 hands and arms, including use of

 a forklift, package handling, and

 tape guns and pneumatic air guns.

 Over time her hands and arms

 started to hurt.  She sought treatment

 and underwent carpal tunnel release

 surgeries and had elbow surgery

 recommended, which she refused.

 The employer denied all liability but

 did make a substantial offer of about

 $15,000, which the employee

 rejected.  After taking the deposition

 of both the employer's and the

 employee's expert medical

 witnesses attorney Silverman took

 this case to trial.  The employee's

 conditions were found work-related

 and compensated as shown in the

 order excerpted to the right.  The

 employee was awarded about three-

 -times what was offered to her

 ($41,347 for permanency plus about

 $3,000 in missed-work benefits plus

 $4,594 in disputed medical bills).

 Example 3: 

 Hit in face with ball at school.

 Surgery denied by employer,

 won at trial and on appeal.

 This employee was watching kids

 at recess at school when she was

 hit in the face with a ball thrown by

 a student.  It popped the lenses out

 of her glasses, and she sought

 immediate treatment for neck pain

 and a headache.  But she already

 suffered from advanced

 degenerative changes in her neck,

 so work comp refused to pay for

 the surgery.  The employee had no

 insurance of her own to pay for the

 surgery.

 After taking the deposition of both

 the employer's and the employee's

 doctors, attorney Silverman took the

 case to trial pursuant to section

 8(a) of the Act (a hearing on medical

 benefits only, not disability).  The

 employer was ordered to pay for

 the neck surgery.  This result was

 appealed by the employer and 

 affirmed by the Commission.

 Example 4: 

 Repetitive twisting with

 hands compensable.  Award

 affirmed by Commission on

 appeal.

 This employee's job was to screw

 caps onto metal cylinders.  The

 employer said it was not a work

 condition when the worker started

 feeling pain in her hands and wrists.

 The employer provided its expert

 medical examiner with a video that

 purported to show the worker's job.

 But the employee testified that the

 video showed a much slower-paced

 version of her job.

 Attorney Silverman took this case to

 trial and won the employee an award

 of bilateral carpal tunnel release

 surgery at the employer's expense.

 This award was appealed, and

 after arguments the award was

 affirmed by the Illinois Workers

  Compensation Commission.