Under Federal Workers Compensation, once you have returned to work, a recurrence of the medical condition will only be considered if the WORK RELATED INJURY, in and by itself, becomes so acute that you cannot work.
Under Federal Workers Compensation, once you have returned to work, a recurrence of the medical condition will only be considered if the WORK RELATED INJURY, in and by itself, becomes so acute that you cannot work. There may be NO intervening factors. In other words, when you return to work, and then the medical condition becomes so acute that you have to stop working, you must prove that the medical condition BY ITSELF suddenly produced the inability to work. Your doctor must justify the inability to work by citing objective findings to justify this inability to work. Pain is not a justification in and of itself. The doctor must provide objective findings to justify the pain and document why it is so severe. However, the doctor’s task is not finished. The doctor must explain why the medical problem persists and thus keeps you from working. If any work factor causes you to be unable to work, then this is not a recurrence. This constitutes a new injury and must be filed by a CA-1 or CA-2. It is not surprising if you are totally confused and your doctor has thrown you out of his/her office. Welcome to the wonderful world of Federal Workers Compensation.