Terrebonne General Health System Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
A hospital is one of the few workplaces where the injury you suffer is often the same kind of injury your employer treats for a living, and that does not make the claim easier. Nurses, techs, aides, transporters, and environmental services staff get hurt lifting patients, pushing equipment, and moving fast on hard floors, and they still find themselves arguing with a claims adjuster about whether the injury really came from work. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that represents injured workers across Mississippi and Louisiana, and it takes on the claims of employees hurt while working for hospitals and health systems, including a Terrebonne General Health System workers’ compensation lawyer for people in Houma and the rest of Terrebonne Parish.
If you work for Terrebonne General Health System and were hurt on the job, your claim runs through Louisiana’s workers’ compensation system. Your employer, or its insurer or administrator, controls much of the early process: the first-report paperwork, the choice of initial treatment, and the decision to accept or contest what happened. That is the stage where small decisions, like what you say in a recorded statement or whether you report a back strain the same shift, shape the rest of the claim.
Hospital employees also face a quirk that other workers rarely do. Because the injury often happens inside a medical facility, there is a tendency to be waved through employee health, told to rest, and handed light duty without anyone formally opening a claim. Keep reading for how to prevent that from costing you benefits.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Hospital Worker’s Comp Claim
Most lawyers who accept comp cases are personal injury attorneys who take one when it walks in. Workers’ compensation is the center of this firm’s practice, and its attorneys bring over 75 combined years of experience to claims that have been denied, delayed, or cut off. The firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients, and it advances the costs of your case. You pay nothing up front, consultations are free, and the firm is paid only if it recovers benefits or a settlement for you. Fees in comp cases are limited and approved under state law. Phones are answered 24 hours a day, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language from the first call.
Rob Lunsford, Founding Partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Partners Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe 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. The team also includes Andrew Rueff, who has tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, along with Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher.
The results speak to the injuries hospital workers actually get. The firm 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. Clients describe attorneys who listen, stay in contact, and stand up to the insurance company, and one client credited Brad Baskin with fighting the insurer at every step.
Injuries and Claims That Come Out of Hospital Work
- Patient-handling back and neck injuries: Lifting, turning, and repositioning patients, or catching one who is falling, is a leading source of lumbar and cervical disc herniations among nurses and aides. Insurers often answer with degenerative disc disease, so the medical records and the history of repetitive physical work matter.
- Shoulder and knee tears: Pulling a stretcher, pushing a loaded bed, or twisting during a transfer can cause rotator cuff tears, SLAP tears, and meniscus tears. Employers sometimes call these old sports injuries, and the claim turns on how the medical evidence ties the tear to the work event.
- Slips, falls, and fractures: Wet floors, spilled fluids, and long shifts on hard surfaces lead to fractured ankles, feet, hips, and wrists that can require surgery and extended time off.
- Needlesticks and exposure to disease: Contact with blood, bodily fluids, or infectious illness is a recognized hazard in clinical work, and the claim depends on prompt reporting and testing documented right after the exposure.
- Repetitive strain and cumulative injury: Injuries that build over months, rather than one incident, are common among staff who spend years on their feet or doing the same motion, and they are easier for an insurer to dispute.
- Violence and workplace assaults: Staff in emergency and behavioral settings can be hurt by combative patients, producing both physical injuries and stress-related conditions.
- Injuries caused by someone other than your employer: A driver who hits you in a work vehicle, or a contractor whose unsafe conditions cause a fall, can open a separate injury claim alongside your comp benefits.
What to Do After You Are Hurt Working at Terrebonne General
Report the injury to your supervisor right away, and make it in writing or confirm it in writing afterward. Louisiana law requires notice to your employer within thirty days of the injury, and no compensation proceeding can be maintained without it. Do not wait to see whether the pain fades. A short email that names the date, the task, and the body part gives you a record that cannot be argued away later.
Get medical care and be specific with every provider about how the injury happened at work. Hospital workers sometimes treat informally through coworkers or an employee health visit and never create a claim record. If the visit is not documented as a work injury, the insurer may later say the condition was unrelated. Describe the mechanism plainly: lifting a patient, slipping on a wet floor, being struck. Keep copies of discharge papers, work restrictions, and anything you sign.
Be careful with recorded statements and with return-to-work offers. An adjuster may ask for a statement before you have had a chance to talk to anyone, and the questions are often framed to surface a pre-existing condition or a gap in reporting. Light duty offered before your doctor releases you can also become a problem if it exceeds your restrictions.
Know the clocks that run on a Louisiana claim. A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the date of the injury, and the period can extend to three years from the last compensation payment if benefits have been paid. If the insurer denies a recommended treatment, the dispute goes through a utilization review process: the party who disagrees has 15 calendar days after written notice of the denial to file Form 1009 with the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration, and the medical director then has 30 days to decide. If you disagree with that decision, you have 45 days from the date it was issued to file Form 1008. Those windows are short and unforgiving, and missing one can end a treatment dispute.
Disputed claims are heard by a workers’ compensation judge in the OWC. You choose where to file among the parish where you were hurt, the parish where you lived when you were hurt, or the parish of your employer’s principal place of business. Terrebonne Parish cases fall within the geographic reach of the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal, which reviews workers’ compensation judgments. An appeal that suspends the judgment must be filed within thirty days, and one that does not suspend it within sixty. After that, a party can ask the Louisiana Supreme Court to review a First Circuit decision by applying for a writ within 30 days of notice of the judgment.
Benefits, Wage Loss, and Where Hospital Claims Get Contested
Louisiana workers’ compensation covers reasonable and necessary medical treatment, wage replacement while you cannot work, supplemental earnings benefits if you return at lower pay, and additional benefits for permanent disability, catastrophic injury, or death. Weekly benefit limits are set each year based on the statewide average weekly wage and are fixed by the date of your accident, so the rate that applies to you does not change afterward.
Supplemental earnings benefits matter a great deal in healthcare, where a worker who can no longer lift may be moved to a lower-paying role or lose a position outright. When an employee cannot earn at least 90 percent of the pre-injury wage, the benefit is 66 2/3 percent of the difference between the wage at the time of injury and what the worker earns or is able to earn. These benefits can continue until you are released to full duty, are earning your old wages again, or reach the 520-week maximum, and weeks of temporary total disability count toward that 520.
The usual points of attack on a hospital employee’s claim are familiar: the accident was not witnessed, the condition is degenerative, the report came late, or the worker is capable of a lighter job. The answer is medical evidence, a clear work history, and coworker or supervisor accounts that fix the event in time. A thorough record built early is the most reliable protection.
Questions Hospital Workers Ask About Their Claims
Do I need a lawyer for a Terrebonne General workers’ compensation claim?
Not every claim requires one. If benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or if your injury will keep you out of work for a long time, an attorney can make a real difference. The insurer has adjusters and lawyers protecting its interests, and you should have someone protecting yours.
How much does it cost to hire Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of your case, and it is paid only if it recovers benefits or a settlement for you. Attorney fees in comp cases are limited and approved under state law.
How long do I have to report my injury?
Report it to your employer right away. Louisiana requires notice within thirty days of the injury, and a claim can be barred without it.
How long do I have to file a formal claim in Louisiana?
Generally one year from the date of the injury. If compensation payments have been made, the deadline may extend to three years from the last payment. Because exceptions depend on the facts, it is best to speak with an attorney early.
Can Terrebonne General fire me for filing a comp claim?
Louisiana protects workers from retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim. If you were let go or punished after reporting an injury, tell the firm during your consultation so your options can be reviewed.
What if the insurer says my back problem is pre-existing?
A pre-existing condition does not automatically end your claim. If your work caused, worsened, or sped up the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Strong medical evidence tying the flare-up to your job duties is the core of the response.
What if I hurt myself lifting a patient but no one saw it?
An unwitnessed injury is still compensable. What carries the claim is prompt reporting, consistent descriptions to every provider, and records showing symptoms appeared after the event. Tell your supervisor and your doctor the same account from the start.
The insurer denied the surgery my doctor recommended. What can I do?
You can dispute the denial through the utilization review process. The aggrieved party has 15 calendar days from receiving written notice of the denial to file Form 1009 with the OWC, and the medical director then has 30 calendar days to issue a decision. That deadline is short, so call right away.
Can I sue someone if a person other than my employer caused my injury?
Possibly. If a negligent driver or an outside contractor caused your injury, you may have a separate injury claim in addition to comp benefits. For injuries on or after July 1, 2024, Louisiana generally allows two years to bring that kind of claim. The firm coordinates the two so they work together.
Will fault on my part defeat a separate injury claim?
Workers’ compensation does not depend on fault. A separate third-party claim is different: for causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, Louisiana bars recovery for a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault, and lesser fault reduces the award proportionally.
What happens if I return to work at a lower-paying position?
You may qualify for supplemental earnings benefits, which make up part of the gap between your old wages and what you can now earn. They are available when you cannot earn at least 90 percent of your pre-injury wage, and they run until full-duty release, wage recovery, or the 520-week maximum.
Do you represent Spanish-speaking hospital workers?
Yes. Hablamos español, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language from the first call to the end of the case.
Serving Injured Workers From Houma Across Terrebonne Parish
The firm represents injured workers in Houma, the parish seat and home to the hospital system, and throughout Terrebonne Parish, including Gray, Schriever, Bourg, Montegut, Chauvin, Dulac, Theriot, and Bayou Cane, along with the bayou communities that stretch south toward the Gulf. Workers there commute into Houma for jobs in healthcare, and the firm helps those employees wherever in the parish they live.
Neighboring Lafourche Parish sits next door, and the firm also works with injured employees in nearby areas such as Thibodaux. The team’s reach extends across South Louisiana, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles, and north to Shreveport and across the state. The firm also serves injured workers in Mississippi, from Jackson and Madison to the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, and the Delta, so a worker who moves or commutes across state lines does not have to find a new firm.
Talk With a Terrebonne General Workers’ Compensation Attorney
If you were hurt working at Terrebonne General Health System, you do not have to sort out the insurer’s questions, the medical disputes, and the filing deadlines by yourself. A Terrebonne General workers’ compensation attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC can review what happened, tell you where your claim stands, and handle the insurance company while you focus on recovering.
Call the firm any hour of the day. Consultations are free, the firm advances case costs, and you pay no fee unless benefits or a settlement are recovered for you. The firm helps injured workers, and that is the work it does.
