“I’ve been with this company for over 12 years. I never thought I would be put in a situation like this. And all I wanted to do was get myself better so I can get back to work.” Jimmy A. | Louisiana | Back & Neck Injury
“My name’s Jimmy. I’m 44 years old. I’ve been working as a boat captain since the age of 18 years old, and have been doing it for a little over twenty years. So, needless to say, I’ve been quite a few places in the work industry, offshore and onshore; I worked on both sides of the business. I was pretty safety-orientated considering the most part; we pretty much always had one of the safest vessels that I was tied up to.
I never thought that I would be injured in the workplace. I was always saying it happens to other people or other people’s boats. But I was put in a situation one day with one of my crew members, the deckhand. He pretty much put himself in a unsafe act. I tried to get him out of the situation and winded up hurting myself in the process.
I ended up going to the doctors and all and they were telling me was false instances of my injuries. I knew something more was wrong because I could feel it; I never felt this kind of pain and stuff before in my life, in my back and in my neck, pretty much my whole spinal area. So, I winded up going and getting a second opinion. The second opinion pretty much told me right away that I needed surgery on my neck. I had more problems than what the company doctors were saying. When I went back for a second appointment with my second opinion, the company’s representative was at the doctor’s office. How they found out that I had an appointment there, I don’t really know.
I felt like I was being put in a pickle. I winded up coming to The Young Firm and I met Tim. Tim told me pretty much the scenario of what was going on. I had to take a step back and realize this. I’ve been with this company for over 12 years. I never thought I would be put in a situation like this. And all I wanted to do was get myself better so I can get back to work.
I have two artificial discs in my neck, and I have pretty good function. I have two
fusions in my lower back. I also have some kind of messed up discs in my mid-back that’s too risky for them to be messed with so my own choice is to leave well enough alone. I can deal with it. I can manage with it. So, in my situation I feel pretty good. But if I have the opportunity to go back to work with a little bit more time of recovery, I think that I’m capable of doing it. Overall with my surgeries, I feel like I’m fixed up pretty good.
I didn’t really know how this would all come to end. I just knew that there was a lot of stuff involved in it, and I thought it was going be drawn out. We came to an agreement on the settlement in probably less than a week, though, and it wasn’t any hassle on my part; it probably was on Mr. Tim’s. Thank God, that’s what he’s there for. All I did was pretty much just sat back and waited for my settlement to come in.
I didn’t want to ever be in a lawyer’s office. And I never thought that I would have to ever go to a lawyer’s office. Only in maybe an instance with somebody else.I did come and see Mr. Tim and I’ll tell you what, he’s a great guy and helped me out all the way through this thing. Even after it’s all said and done, he’s still there and he’s like a new member to the family. He helped me out a lot and I could move forward with my life from here because of Tim. I appreciate everything they did for me. And I really mean that.”
