Veterinary Injuries And Worker's Compensation
Being a veterinarian means you have to deal with animals that are sick and anxious, and owners who, while not sick, are definitely anxious. An injury sustained while working on an animal is not unusual, and veterinary clinic owners must have worker's compensation insurance. For the most part, worker's compensation (from a company like the one represented at http://mcmullenochs.com) would apply to any injury sustained in the course of work, but a few exceptions may apply.
Additional Injuries After the Fact Due to Your Negligence
Worker's compensation claims do not require that you show anyone was at fault or not; they simply cover work-related accidents regardless of fault. However, you have to make an effort to heal. Follow doctor's instructions, take medicine, get the recommended therapy, and so on. If you neglect to take medicine, for example —- not just forget, but consciously neglect to take it — and you end up getting so sick that you end up in the hospital, it's questionable whether you could include that cost in your claim. You could try, but your claim approval could run into trouble.
As an example, take this anecdote from DVM360 Magazine. A vet tech was injured and had to get antibiotics. Her employer was very attentive and helped her get medical attention, yet the tech kept neglecting to pick up the prescription, and then she kept forgetting to take the antibiotics. Her hand became so infected that she temporarily lost feeling in part of the appendage. Luckily, her employer began monitoring her medication use, and she recovered fully. Yet had she experienced additional long-term disability due to the infection, she might not have had a very good case simply because she made no effort (until her employer stepped in) to recover from the injury.
Your Actions Before the Accident
There's also the issue of what your role in the injury might have been. That does not mean that, if you were a bit careless and ended up injured, you're barred from filing a claim. However, if you had used drugs before going to work, for example, you might not have an approved claim. Evidence of prior drug use can seriously mess up your attempt to get worker's compensation, even if the drugs were not directly responsible for your actions leading up to the accident. Now, if you were accidentally exposed to some sort of drug in the course of work, that would be different, and you'd have to document that very carefully.
In any worker's compensation situation, the help of a lawyer can be valuable. However, if you are dealing with a questionable situation where you might not have been the best at following doctor's orders, or where you had questionable drug exposure, you need to speak to a lawyer quickly.