Rapid City Permanent Disability Lawyers

As a patient recovers from an injury, the treating physician will gauge their health, symptoms, and overall recovery for signs of improvement and concerns. When a patient’s injury is no longer expected to improve or does not need to improve anymore, the patient has reached their maximum medical improvement (MMI). If a patient reaches their MMI but their injury is still causing them to experience hardships or health conditions, then they can be considered permanently disabled.

In terms of workers’ compensation and disability benefits, a permanent disability is usually a lifelong injury or complication that interferes with their employment or all types of employment.

A few examples of permanent disabilities are:

• Chronic back pain
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Lost limbs or digits
• Hearing or vision loss
• Respiratory disease
• Diabetes

An impairment rating is the rating you will receive after your impairment rating evaluation (IRE). Your IRE will be performed by an independent professional. This rating is intended to signify how severe your disability is when compared to a typical level of health or functionality. You will receive a percentage rating between 0% and 100%. If you receive an IRE rating above 50% you are considered to have total disability, but if your IRE rating is below 50% you are not considered to have total disability.

Permanent disability is only part of an injury’s description. It can also be sorted into total or partial, which will influence the disability claim noticeably.

The differences between permanent partial and permanent total disabilities are:

• Permanent partial: You can still complete some functions in your employment, but not to a usual capacity. For example, you might be able to keep working a register but only if you are allowed to sit the entire time.
• Permanent total: You cannot complete any part of your job’s functions due to the extent of your injury. Finding employment in any capacity could be unlikely.

Importantly, how long you will receive disability benefits will change based on the description of your disability. Even though permanent partial disability makes it sound like you will always get benefits, you will only receive benefits for a set amount of weeks, which vary based on the type of disability. For example, someone who qualifies for permanent partial disability benefits for losing the function of an arm can get benefits for 200 weeks, but someone who is considered to have a permanent partial disability benefit after losing just a pinky will only get benefits for 15 weeks.

On the other hand, if you qualify for permanent total disability benefits, then you are eligible to receive those benefits for as long as the disability exists. If your disability is lifelong and has been diagnosed as such, then you could receive benefits for the rest of your life.