Mississauga Disability


Mississauga Disability Lawyers


Claiming Long Term Disability Benefits In Mississauga

For you to be denied long term disability benefits, your insurer must provide strong evidence about your condition or treatment that allow them to avoid paying you. This evidence often involves your insurance company claiming that your injury is being exaggerated, or insufficiently documented.

Don’t give up. At Kotak Law, we have experience earning disability settlements for clients that are unfairly denied by their insurers.

Call us at 1-888-GOKOTAK or (416) 816-1500.

Understanding Long Term Disability


If you’ve suffered a disability as a result of an accident or illness and are no longer able to work, you may be eligible for long-term disability (LTD) insurance. However, there are certain preconditions to be met and steps to follow in order to earn the benefits.

How do long-term disability benefits work?
Disability benefits can provide the necessary protection for workers who become disabled and are without pay for an extended period. If you are eligible, you will usually receive LTD benefits until you are able to return to the workforce or reach retirement age.

To qualify for disability payments, you must show that you are unable to return to work. This doesn’t imply that you must be unable to work in any capacity – rather, that you can no longer fulfill the fundamental requirements of your line of work.

What are some common reasons for refusing LTD claims?
Long term disability claims are rejected for countless reasons; typically, it is because your insurer argues that you haven’t provided sufficient proof of your disability, or that your disability is not enough to prevent you from working. It’s very common that disability sufferers will be surprised by their claim being denied – your ailment may be obvious to you and even supported by the testimony of your family doctor, and yet your insurer may claim you lack sufficient documentation. In particular, insurance companies are apt to dismiss disability claims based on difficult-to-measure conditions such as depression, headaches, fibromyalgia, or chronic pain. Sufferers of this type of ailment often need a lawyer to force their insurer to recognize the validity of their ailment.

How much am I entitled to?
The intent of LTD insurance is to serve as an alternative form of income, to help you stay financially afloat while you recuperate from your disability. The payout that you are owed varies from one insurance plan to another. All will pay you a set percentage of your former income.

It’s important to look into other employment benefit options, and how these may affect your long term disability insurance – often, these benefits are deducted from the payment that your insurer owes you. An experienced disability lawyer can explain this relationship to you.

How can a disability lawyer help?
A disability lawyer has many advantages in helping you with your LTD claims. For example:

  • Understand the process of gathering evidence to support your claim.
  • Can analyze your case and explain all available benefits and compensation options.
  • Understand the norms of the disability claim process: when an insurer is unfairly denying a claim and
    when the claimant needs to better document their disability
  • Know when a second medical opinion is needed, and acquire it for you
  • If necessary, represent you in court.

Call us today at 1-888-GOKOTAK or fill out our free online assessment. You only stand to gain from taking charge of your disability claim.

Disclaimer: This article is intended to supply general information to the public. We make every effort to ensure the accuracy of this information. However, as laws change quickly, the reader should always ensure the accuracy and applicability of such information with respect to their particular case. The information contained in this article cannot replace a thorough and complete review of the reader’s situation by competent legal counsel who has had an opportunity to review all of the facts.

Kotak Personal Injury Law

Kotak Personal Injury Law
120 Traders Blvd East, Suite 120
Mississauga Ontario L4Z 2H7

Phone: (905) 755-8900
Toll Free: 1‑888‑GO‑KOTAK
Fax: (905) 755-8901
Email: info@kotaklaw.com

From the Blog: Treatment and Rehabilitation for Spinal Cord Injury

You’re on the way to a friend’s cottage when your driver loses control of the vehicle while attempting to pass another car on a rural Ontario highway. You are in the backseat and aren’t wearing a seatbelt and consequently, are thrown from the car as it rolls over multiple times. As a result of the crash, you sustain a permanent spinal injury at the T5-T6 level and are thus rendered complete paraplegic. You are only 21 years old at the time of the car accident. This was the beginning of a tragic disability story for an Ontario man.

You’re climbing a willow tree along the banks of a river on municipal parkland in Mississauga. This is the same tree you and your friends have climbed many times before. However, this time you lose your grip and fall, causing substantial spinal cord injury and resulting in paraplegia. You are only 16 years old.

Both of these recent events are tragically real accidents that had terrible and permanent consequences for the two young men who were left disabled.

Spinal Cord Injury Ontario reports that every year, there are 600 new spinal cord injuries and current estimates suggest that about 33,140 Ontarians suffer from spinal cord injury. A spinal cord injury (SCI) is certainly one of the most significant and traumatic events that a person may suffer in their lifetime. But spinal injury doesn’t only affect the injured person; family members and friends are also greatly impacted, particularly close family members such as parents, who typically contribute a great deal of their time and often even abandon their careers to support their injured loved one. This is a common reason for a disability claim.

In Mississauga, the two most common causes of spinal injury are motor vehicle accidents and unintentional falls. The average person takes two to three years to gain satisfactory independence after a spinal cord injury. In some cases, an accident victim becomes permanently dependant on attendant care. The most significant impacts of a spinal cord injury are mobility, agility and pain, which in combination substantially affect one’s ability to engage in most activities.

Understanding Spinal Cord Injury
The Rick Hansen Institute is a well-respected organization that provides resources to Mississauga victims of spinal cord injury and their families. A key directive for the Institute is to provide collaboration of resources and knowledge between the global spinal cord injury community, with the ultimate goal of improving health care outcomes for injured persons.

SCI Treatment and Rehabilitation in Mississauga

  • A physiatrist often leads the care team, coordinates the patient’s care, and ensures that proper medical treatment is received. Physical therapist or physiotherapists determine and implement physical rehabilitation regimes to help patients strengthen muscles to their potential and regain motor function.
  • An occupational therapist (OT) typically teaches techniques that will help patients function in their daily life, including learning skills to help with getting dressed, cooking, and getting around inside the home and in the community. OT’s also help in choosing proper equipment, such as wheelchairs and other assistive devices.
  • A psychologist will often help the injured person cope with the psychological and emotional challenges associated with the drastic impact on the life of someone who sustained a SCI.
  • Rehabilitation counsellors can assist the patient in achieving their personal, independent-living and career goals, and also help the patient prepare for living at home.
  • Nursing staff help provide daily care and teach the patient how to take care of their health when they return home.

The settlement in the Morrison case was one of the largest in Canadian case law; however, it clearly demonstrates that the financial and life-changing impact of a spinal cord injury can be substantial. If you or a loved one sustained a spinal cord injury other injury in an accident resulting from another party’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation for losses resulting from your injury. Call Kotak Law today for an informed and frank assessment of the strength of your claim.

Sources:
http://www.rickhanseninstitute.org/
http://www.sciontario.org/faq/introduction/fast-facts