Sunday, October 4, 2009

What Injured Albertan's say about WCB

Some posted their names others wish to remain anonymous due to fear of repercussions by the Workers Compensation Board of Alberta.Comments of Injured workers and Advocates.These comments were copied from http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/remove-queens-bench-status-from-workers-compensation-boards-court/signatures-page2.html and also from http://www.gopetition.com/online/19942/signatures-page1.html as there are also many other comments from across Canada.However the story is the same all across this nation, corruption and deceit, abuse of power and abuse of the injured just to make the lives of those that work for the Workers Compensation Boards all that mush more pleasurable while the injured of who this organization was created for are forced into poverty,loss of property, loss of families and in some cases loss of life.

Calgary Alberta; Inefficient, too much lies and currupted.

Maria Farmer Drumheller,Alberta; WCB needs to be accountable

John Emmons Drumheller,Alberta ; The injured are not treated fairly.

Brent McGillis Edmonton,Alberta ; Citizens in Canada who are above the Law. How come there is not a Class Action Lawyer in Toronto that can sue these guys under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms? It says explicitly in the charter that we as a group of disabled persons may not be discriminated against. The gov't has stripped an entire class of citizens of there human rights, because we are gimps? Are there any lawyers listening?

Robert Weiss Wetaskiwin,Alberta ; The WCB should not be allowed to treat people like garbage. The WCB takes away our human rights, dignity and self-respect among other things to the point we have nothing left. It has cost some people their lives. The WCB is allowed to hide behind the flawed policies that allows them to do what they want when they want and how they want, even if it costs the injured worker their life. Time the government that represents the tax paying citizens that built this country do something about it.

Ken Balacko Calgary,Alberta ;I was forced to work, under threats of being dismissed, to sit near toxic gases (coal methane gas and brake fluid toxic solvents) and hospitalized after but in spite of emergency doctors requests for WCB to have an investigation and poison control and Occupational Health and Safety to investigate, WCB refused to admit the incident took place. Ten of my co-workers wittnessed this act but the companies involved can't be sued and are protected by the WCB Act.

Elizabeth Church Wetaskiwin,Alberta ; I have had nothing but trouble with wcb since june of 2000. I have a spinal injury and had 2 surgergies.

Kathlyn Worsley Cochrane,AB ; WCB seems to be able to answer to no one

Daniel Hunter Edmonton,Alberta ; The creation of a court to police the actions of the business it is a part of is ridiculous. Even worse is to staff it with political appointees selected to favor the business itself. WCB Alberta tribunals are a farce and nothing more than a kangaroo court.
When their decisions are appealed to a real court with a real judge all he can do is refer it back to them.
A standard catch 22.It has to be changed.

Sabina Cincer Calgary,AB ; For almost 10 years I have had ailments, which have stemmed from a fall that occurred on my employer’s premises. I received WCB compensation until Sep.99. An “independent WCB doctor had declared me as healthy.
My symptoms, back pain and leg giving out, hadn’t changed. In 2000 I had a complicated elbow fracture. On year later WCB reopened my file. At some point WCB forced me to give up Physio and despite my surgeon’s order to start a program at their Rehab Centre where I have caught RSD.

Monique Ceresney Delburne,AB ; The WCB is not performing as it was set up to do. It is neccessary to re-evaluate how the decision-making is performed, whether it REALLY protects workers and ensures thier safety and most importantly whether it helps injured workers in a non-adversarial way. Workers should have more options if they feel the board's decisions are not balanced and fair.

Joan Standish Red Deer,Alberta ; WCB needs a complete overhaul. This organization is extremely corrupt. The injured workers of Alberta need to be dealt with fairly, honestly and quickly, with out the interference of the stakeholders(employers). The stakeholders and the case managers are worried about the dollar they may be assessed or the money they won't receive in bonuses for getting injured workers off the benefits they are legally entitled to.

Norman Standish Sr. Red Deer,Alberta ; We have been representing injured workers since 1992 and a complete overhaul of this system is definitely required. We need to stop the corruption that exists. Many injured workers are left with no recourse after they are denied their rightful benefits. More weight and evidence is given to the employers (shareholders) and the WCB own paid doctors than the family physicians, and specialists that the family doctors send the injured workers to.

Benjamin Smeenk Delburne,Ab ; The accountability of insurance companies needs to be maximized while minimizing their corrupt attitudes!

Marc Castonguay Delburne,Alberta ; The WCB dose not take care of injured workers in fact many workers recieve new injuries while in thier care.

Nancy Ror Delburne,Alberta ; I have also been fighting with the WCB for 4 years . Thier actions are despicable. WCB no longer serves the injured worker only the employer/ shareholder . The workers compensation board should be abolished. Alberta Health care already foots the bill for our medical even though WCB has collected premiums on our behalf for years.

Christy Petersen Medicine Hat,Alberta ;WCB.....lies to keep money that belongs to injured workers forcing the injured to deal with a life that no one in a free country should have to live. Criminals have more rights then we do.
It is so sick and perverted. I dont know how the workers of this company can live with the choices they make daily to ruin other peoples lives. children are affected by there actions.

David Kachorowski Edmonton,Alberta ; As a injuried worker, I know and understand the dirty tricks and games played by the WCB Alberta to deny worker benefits, that by law, they are eligible for.

Further, Their use of psuedo professionals to write fictional options to support WCB policies is a clear case of malpractice. This should not be tolerate is a society of law. If a government created agency openly advocates malpractice, It is an in tolerable situation. You can't fight the government and win.......

Brenda Hatt Edmonton, Alberta ;I am one of the many injured employees of the Government of Alberta. I have been fighting WCB for help for almost three years. After reading many of the worker's comments on this site, I am that much more disheartened and depressed in the thinking, I am NEVER going to get the assistance I require in getting back to workable condition. I am working right now, but I am injured and cannot get the help I need. They just keep closing my file.

Donald McMillan Calgary,Alberta ; Had to declare Bankruptcy due to my injury and WCB not accepting my claim

Barry Duxbury Calgary Ab ; I have inoperable back pain due to two work related injuries. WCB accepted responsbility at the beginning but as soon as it became apperant that the two sugeries I had only increased the problem, WCB dropped my claim like a hot potato. I have been fighting them for over 20 years with no results. I have lost everything-my home, my savings,my self respect because I am unable to work. My wife has supported myself and my children until she has succombed to a life threatening disease and cannot work.

Edmonton,Alberta ; I have occipital neuralgia from a slip and fall injury and W.C.B. decided to cut off my benefits and medications which I need and cannot afford. I am appalled at their systematic abuse they give to injured workers and this MUST STOP!!!!!

Sherry Milne Calgary,Alberta ; My husband has suffered for 14 years with no help but pain from WCB! It is about time that the gov't that we elected stand up and do what they said they would do and investigate and get WCB on the right track to truly helping the people they were meant to help. Where is this money going as it is not going to my husband NOR any other injured workers?? Companies should also be asking this question along with every person that will or does collect CPP! Enough is enough!!

Travis Short Calgary,Alberta ; I fell 22 meters from a drilling rig derrick in the winter of 2001, suffering severe multiple injuries, including a brain injury, which WCB claims has "resolved it self" and is therefore no longer a valid part of claim, my left knee needs to be replaced,, but since I am only 40, I have to wait until I am 55 to get it replaced, in the meantime I get by on 150 40 mg tablets of oxycontin a month. I was also forced to return to work, further aggravating my injuries and pain threshold. Suicide?

James Wonnacott Calgary Alberta ; My brother has been suffering from an injury for over 2 years now from using faulty equipment while working for the company Tesla. His arm is now immobilized. WCB hasn't helped him one bit but rather has given him great grief. WCB is full of crooked liars, people with large wallets but little concern for human decency. It's time to end the madness.

Antonieta Broda Edmonton,AB ; For some many years I worked under the belief that the entities that were supposed to protect us are the ones that serve to discard us as damaged human beings.

Connie Dewey Stony Plain,AB ; Workers compensation has no right to make workers except less than what is justly due to them. Everyone who is injured at work should have the right to continue to live in the same manner prior to the accident, not in poverty. That is what this insurance is supposed to be for.

Gene Ostrowski Seven Persons,Alberta ; I am one of the cases that cannot work as per various Doctor's reports and Worker's Compensation pays me 800 Dollars a month when I was making over 5000 Dollars a month when I was injured in 2003 and they expect me to live on this. What a big cutback on wages and they feel this is fair. How is it the Doctors reports are ignored and case workers with no medical training can deem me fit enough to work in order to cut back on paying us what is due to us.

Suzanne Metz Medicine Hat,Alberta ; So often injured workers are expected to return to work when they should not be working. This is totally unacceptable!

Medicine Hat,Alberta ; The WCB and all connected to its administration are extremely corrupt . All should be aware of the bloated and highly
overpaid salaries being awarded to these individuals who basically do not have any respect or concern for WCB claimants.They are only in the organization to financially line their own pockets,WCB is a total disgrace , in need of a complete overhaul and dismissal of the people who run it.

Charles Boyce Stony Plain,AB ; I can't beleive this is allowed to happen in a western democracy

Deanna Pilon Fort Kent,Alberta ; My hubby still cant work and WCB didn't care...he did their cookie cutter routines that worked on other parts of his body but not the injured knee...if fact it did worse for the knee than good and they said because he finished the rehab he was better...HE STILL CANNOT WORK!!

Larry Hansen Medicine Hat,Alberta ; WCB totally disregarded my case of chemical poisoning in the workplace rejecting my claim while I had already been diagnosed and was receiving treatment====

Nora Yaghi Edmonton,AB ; I was injured at age 23 and now for the rest of my life I have to live with an injury that restricts me everyday even thought it's not as visible as others injuries. The WCB says my lifetime compensation amount is a percentage of $70,000 depending on how they measure it. Keep in mind they can't measure chronic pain and severe depression.

Earl Forrest Edmonton,Alberta ; I have been treated unjustly by WCB on two different claims an injury claim and a progressive injury claim. Both times I was denied they came up with a reason that made no sense. It is a very stressful thing to go through, and we all as workers should have an organization to trust in if we are injured at work. WCB needs to change and start doing what there name says. Compensating!!!!!!

Monica Weiss Red Deer,AB ; My husband is currently a victim of the WCB's shenanigans... he is facing a condition caused by his injury that may render him unable to work permanently. The WCB has received numerous orders that he is to attend specialized treatments in Edmonton or Camrose, and not to continue with their treatment schedule. Our family unit has suffered due to the stress that the WCB has placed on Ron as it aggravates his condition of RSD. They threaten to stop his pay if he doesn't attend THEIR schedule.

Rob Willis Calgary,Ab ; The soul-less members of the WCB, DRB, and Appeals Commission have obscured, ignored or neglected all pertinent evidence regarding my claim.....it's criminal and immoral.
The entire system should be scrapped.
The members should be prosecuted and incarcerated for crimes against humanity!

" It cannot be said that the Board is independent insofar as the worker is concerned. It is a Board set up to protect the employers. The Board is funded by the employers, and the Board has a duty and probably a primary duty to protect the employer. In relation to the worker, the Board has an overwhelming wealth of knowledge and experience. It has the financial ability to fund sophisticated investigations involving highly qualified experts and have the material presented to them, guided, orchestrated and propounded by its in-house counsel responsible to the Board and paid for by the Board. The application of any standards under the rules of natural justice would identify such circumstances as being unequal in negotiating ability and unfair. This is not a level playing field, it is not fair, and it offends the basic principles of natural justice."
- Justice Maclean - Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta
Wilson v. Medicine Hat (City) [1999] A. J. No. 269 (February 3, 1999)

These are just some of the comments as this blog would be endless, but I hope there is enough here to make people aware of the abuse, manipulation and the deceit of the Workers Compensation Board of Alberta, along with criminal activities as fraud, manipulation of personal and medical information, intimidation and threats, physical, emotional and mental abuse just to name a few. Something must be done, our Government allows this to happen , WHY? cause they are there for the Corporations not for the people and when dealing like that, the Corporations become more corrupt and so does our Government.

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