Columbus Healthcare Worker Injury Lawyer
A patient lurches during a transfer, a needle slips, or a twelve-hour shift on a hard floor finally catches up with your lower back, and now you are wondering whether the hospital or nursing home will actually stand behind you. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that represents injured workers across Mississippi and Louisiana, and as a Columbus healthcare worker injury lawyer team, we help nurses, aides, technicians, and other caregivers in Lowndes County and the surrounding region get the medical care and wage benefits the law provides.
Healthcare injuries rarely look like the ones people picture on a construction site. They build up through lifting, repositioning, and standing, or they arrive in a single moment: a combative patient, a slick hallway, a contaminated needle. Employers and insurers often treat these claims as ordinary wear and tear, and that is where disputes start.
Mississippi covers you from your first day on the job. There is no waiting period and no minimum earnings requirement, so a newly hired aide is covered the same way a twenty-year nurse is.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC for a Healthcare Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm serving injured workers throughout Mississippi, including Columbus and Lowndes County, and across Louisiana. Most lawyers who take comp cases are personal injury attorneys who see a work injury only when one walks in. We built the firm the other way around. We have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for our clients, consultations are free, we advance the costs of your case, and you owe no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and we speak Spanish with clients who prefer it.
Several of our results involve the same kinds of injuries healthcare workers suffer. We secured $685,000 for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, and $385,000 for a project manager injured when his work vehicle was struck. Rob Lunsford, our founding partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe, both partners, have been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and The National Trial Lawyers, and the firm was ranked by Best Law Firms in 2026 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. Andrew Rueff has tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, and Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the team. Clients consistently describe attorneys who listen, communicate, and push back on the insurance company at every step.
Injuries and Exposures That Healthcare Workers Bring to Us
- Patient-Handling Back and Neck Injuries: Lifting, turning, and transferring patients is the leading source of spine injuries among nurses, CNAs, and orderlies. Insurers frequently blame degenerative disc disease, so the medical record has to show how repetitive physical work caused or aggravated the herniation.
- Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Catching a falling patient or pulling a bed can tear a rotator cuff or meniscus. Employers sometimes call these old injuries, and we answer with imaging and treating-physician opinions.
- Needlesticks and Bloodborne Exposure: A contaminated stick can mean testing, preventive treatment, and months of anxiety. Report it immediately and keep every lab result.
- Violence From Patients: Emergency rooms, behavioral units, and long-term care settings produce assaults that cause fractures, concussions, and lasting psychological harm.
- Slips, Falls, and Fractures: Wet floors, cluttered corridors, and rushed transfers lead to broken wrists, ankles, and hips that may require surgery and extended time off.
- Infectious Disease and Occupational Illness: Illnesses contracted through patient contact can be compensable when the job caused the exposure, though proving the source takes careful medical evidence.
- Driving Injuries for Home Health and Transport Staff: Visiting nurses and aides injured in a crash while traveling for work may have both a comp claim and a separate claim against the at-fault driver.
What to Do After a Healthcare Workplace Injury in Mississippi
Report the injury to your employer in writing as soon as you can. Mississippi gives you 30 days from the accident, and waiting invites the argument that it happened somewhere else. Tell your supervisor, name the body part, and keep a copy. If you were stuck by a needle or exposed to something, ask for the exposure protocol and testing right away.
Get medical care and describe the cause of the injury accurately to every provider. Say it happened at work, and describe the lifting, the patient, or the fall. Notes that omit the workplace cause become the insurer’s best exhibit later.
Mississippi workers’ compensation claims are heard by the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, not a regular court. The filing deadline is generally two years from the date of injury or the last compensation payment, and the formal claim is a Petition to Controvert. A denied claim goes before an Administrative Judge at an evidentiary hearing. Either side can ask the Full Commission to review the record, which is not a new trial. A final Commission award can then be appealed within 30 days, and the Supreme Court often assigns those appeals to the Court of Appeals.
Avoid a few common mistakes. Do not give a recorded statement to the adjuster before you understand what the questions are aiming at. Do not return to full duty before your doctor clears you. Do not sign a settlement or release because the carrier says it is routine. And do not assume a pre-existing condition ends your claim, since the question is whether work caused, worsened, or accelerated it.
If your injury happened in Louisiana, for example at a facility across the state line, the rules differ: report within 30 days and file a formal claim within one year of the accident, unless payments have been made, which can extend the deadline to three years from the last payment.
What Benefits a Hurt Healthcare Worker Can Expect
Mississippi workers’ compensation pays for reasonable and necessary medical treatment related to the injury. It also pays wage-loss benefits, generally two-thirds of your average weekly wage up to a statutory weekly maximum that the state adjusts periodically. Temporary and permanent total disability benefits are capped at 450 weeks, and permanent partial disability in other cases is likewise limited to 450 weeks. Vocational rehabilitation can matter for a nurse who can no longer do bedside work and needs to retrain.
Healthcare employers often offer light duty. Whether the offered job is real, within your restrictions, and paid at a comparable rate is a frequent point of dispute, and turning down a legitimate offer can affect benefits. Get the restrictions in writing from your doctor before you accept or decline anything.
Sometimes a third party is also responsible, such as a negligent driver, an equipment manufacturer, or a contractor. Those claims run alongside workers’ compensation and follow different deadlines, so the two need to be coordinated rather than handled separately.
Questions Healthcare Workers Ask About Injury Claims
Do I need a lawyer if my hospital says it will handle my claim?
Not every claim requires one. But if benefits are denied, delayed, reduced, or stopped, or your injury will keep you out of work for a long time, an attorney can make a significant difference. The carrier has adjusters and lawyers protecting its interests.
How much does it cost to hire your firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of your case, and we are paid only if we recover benefits or a settlement. Attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
How soon must I report my injury?
Within 30 days of the accident in both Mississippi and Louisiana. Report sooner, in writing, and keep a copy.
How long do I have to file a claim in Mississippi?
Generally two years from the date of injury or the last compensation payment, by filing a Petition to Controvert with the Commission. If no disability benefits were paid within two years, the right to benefits can be barred unless a claim was filed in that window.
Am I covered if I just started the job last week?
Yes. Mississippi coverage begins on the first day of employment, with no waiting period.
My employer says my back problem is just degeneration from age. Is my claim over?
No. If your work caused, worsened, or sped up the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Strong medical opinions tying the repetitive lifting to the injury are the core of answering that argument.
Can I be fired for filing a comp claim?
Mississippi and Louisiana both protect workers from retaliation for filing a claim. If you were let go or disciplined after reporting an injury, tell us during your consultation.
Does workers’ compensation cover a needlestick if I never get sick?
The exposure itself can require testing, follow-up care, and preventive treatment, and those medical costs can be part of a claim. Document the incident immediately and keep every result, because later infection is much harder to prove without an early record.
What if a patient attacked me?
An assault by a patient during your duties is generally a work injury. Report it, seek treatment, and ask that any incident report be preserved. Psychological injury tied to a physical event or workplace trauma should be raised with your doctors early.
The insurer wants me back on light duty, but my doctor has not released me. What do I do?
Do not accept or refuse until your treating physician has put your restrictions in writing. Whether the job offered fits those restrictions is exactly the kind of question we review before a worker risks losing benefits.
Can I get a separate claim if my injury happened in a work car accident?
Possibly. If someone other than your employer caused the crash, you may have a personal injury claim in addition to comp benefits, and we make sure the two work together.
My case is in Mississippi but my employer is based in Louisiana. Does that matter?
It can affect which state’s rules and agency apply, including deadlines. Louisiana generally requires a formal claim within one year, versus two in Mississippi, so raise it with us immediately.
Serving Injured Healthcare Workers From Columbus Across Mississippi and Louisiana
We represent healthcare workers in Columbus and throughout Lowndes County, and in neighboring communities such as West Point, Starkville, Caledonia, and Artesia. Our work extends across Mississippi, including Tupelo, Jackson, Madison, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Gulf Coast, the Delta, and north Mississippi. In Louisiana we serve injured workers in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and throughout south and north Louisiana. Wherever your hospital, clinic, nursing home, or home health agency is located, you can talk with our team.
Talk With a Columbus Healthcare Injury Attorney Today
If you were hurt caring for patients, you do not have to deal with the insurance company by yourself. A Columbus healthcare injury attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC can review what happened, explain your deadlines, and handle the carrier while you focus on recovering. Call us any time, day or night. Consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you.
