It is the job of a lower back injury attorney in Missouri to prove that his or her client suffered an injury at work — and that the injury was severe enough to prevent him or her from working for an extended period of time or permanently. This is not always easy to do, either because of the nature of soft-tissue injury diagnoses, or because an employer or its insurance company claims the injury was incurred in off-work activities.

Adding to that, research shows that the workers compensation system delivers unequal outcomes for different groups of people. A 2005 study conducted in Missouri (Chibnall and Tate), and published in Pain Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal, found that there are differences in the post-settlement satisfaction of Caucasians and African-Americans. The study pointed to the following:

• African-Americans received less treatment and less compensation
• The lower satisfaction with the disability process for African-Americans was associated with higher levels of post-settlement disability

In general, those who fare the worst in the workers compensation system are individuals who lack effective legal representation. A workers compensation lawyer in Springfield will almost always achieve better results in the employer-based work injury system than an employee who attempts to navigate the system on his or her own.

Contact the Ryan E. Murphy Law Firm LLC in Springfield, a workers compensation attorney, to learn more about how to file claims for lower back or other types of workplace-related injuries or illnesses.