In Illinois you can get future medical treatment one of two ways in your Work Comp case.
You may settle the case and have it included in your contract.
This is very rare because the insurance company wants to close out the case and avoid paying for something down the road.
The other way is to have a trial.
If you win your case, this opens the possibility that you may seek medical in the future.
You will have to prove that your need for future medical is related to the original work injury.
You may have to have a second trial to get this future medical treatment approved.
So you must weigh whether it is worth it to fight a second time for the future medical treatment.
Some people want the settlement sooner and the certainty of the amount of money they will receive.
The trial itself takes longer and whatever the Arbitrator awards is what you get.
Just remember open medical is not an automatic pass for whatever treatment you want, whenever you want it.
Questions about your work injury? Feel free to contact Illinois Work Injury Attorney Dirk May at 309-827-4371.