Injuries and HMO legal dept.

[Mojo]

Heads up guys.
A few months ago I visited my doctor and then got some MRI's because of an shoulder/back injury that I suffered in BJJ class.
Every doctor that I saw asked me how the injury had occured, so of course I told them about the BJJ class I go to and how I got injured because of landing wrong after being thrown too hard. I was away from class for two months.

No lasting injuries were found and I got better after time and returned to class.

Now, my HMO's legal reps have been sending me letters demanding to know the wheres and whos about how I got injured to see if they can sue somone to recover the costs of the treatments. I've recieved three letters, which I have ignored.

My instructor would have a heart attack if he thought he might be sued so I'm just going to keep ignoring the issue.

So, I guess what I'm saying here is that if you have to go to the doctor on an injury from class, you might not want to tell your doctor the whole story in order to protect your instructor from legal liability.

Do you guys have any ideas on how to better handle this ? I'd love to hear them.

[Leto]

Your instructor surely has liability insurance, or he has you sign a waiver, a document saying you are accepting the risk of injury and cannot sue him for injuries in practice. Otherwise, he could be in trouble with those insurance companies...I'm sure you're not the first one who has ever been hurt in class, and you won't be the last.

[Mojo]

Your right, I did sign a waiver. So I guess there is some protection for him. I wonder how much it would help him though.

[Leto]

It should help him completely. You signed a waiver, saying he is in no way responsible for injuries you sustain in practice. Any medical bills incurred because of your injuries are your own problem, and he is not liable in any way. I don't know what will really happen...but unless there is some major flaw in the way the waiver is written or worded, no one should be able to sue him (successfully). I'm sure your insurance company will want to know about the waiver, and will want to see it (to make sure there are no holes in its wording which can be exploited).

[Fred Sanford]

you might want to talk to your instructor to let him know what's going on. That is if you haven't already done so.

[TaoBoy]

Fred's right. Make sure your instructor knows the story. I'm sure he will appreciate what you are doing in trying to keep the dogs away. And he really has to make sure that waiver is water-tight.

I'm just happy the medical system in Australia is quite as fckd up as yours.

[PLCrane]

Huh. I had a whole other post, and after thinking about it, I deleted it. Your HMO is looking for a liability policy they can tap. Insurance companies do this **** all the time. I wonder if they'd go after someone's homeowner's policy if you got hurt at a friend's house.

Sometimes insurance policies will exclude injuries related to certain sports that you engage in. I've heard of that happening. If your doctor gives you a hard time about doing martial arts, find someone who treats athletes and won't freak out over people who push their body to the limit.

Who told the legal department about your health problems, anyway? Is this part of a risk management program that the HMO is running? If so, what's the internal policy? Arm yourself well before you engage.