NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WKBW) — 7 News recently shared Michelle Waugaman's heartbreaking story about losing an unborn child due to an injury she suffered on the job.
Waugaman was working as a personal care aide in a client's home when she tripped over a cat and fell down the stairs. She told 7 News' Michael Schwartz she was rushed to the hospital and that doctors detected a heartbeat, and she was sent home.
Two days later her water broke and she was rushed to Oishei Children's Hospital. Waugaman delivered her baby, but she passed away four days later. She then sued the owner of the home where she fell and won the case in a third-party settlement. However, the money did not go to Waugaman but instead was awarded to the insurance company that provided the workers' compensation.
In other words, workers' compensation will cover broken bones or limbs, but there is no coverage for the unborn child. Waugaman is now working with an attorney and a state assemblyman to change the law and better protect pregnant women in New York State.
READ MORE: 'That part of the system is broken': Mother looks to get workers comp laws changed after losing baby
Viewers helped us keep this important conversation going on Good Morning Buffalo. Some viewers voiced their frustrations with the workers' comp system, while others shared there was a problem with the system and patients taking advantage of one another.
So, 7 News met with Dr. Franco Vigna who is a spinal surgeon with Revive Spine Center.
"I just like making people feel better," Dr. Vigna said.
He said half of his patients who come to the Niagara Falls office have work-related injuries to their neck and back.
"Workers’ compensation puts up a lot of barriers and obstacles in treating the patient," he said.
Dr. Vigna said he can treat patients immediately when they come to his office, but if workers' compensation is involved it can take months before they get the help they need. Plus, there is a ton of paperwork.
"If I do want to send them to physical therapy, or I do want to get an MRI or do an injection or do an operation, we have to request those things through workers' compensation, and then that can take a long time," he explained.
Sometimes, Dr. Vigna said even if a patient meets the workers' comp guidelines, it can still take anywhere from six to eight months for the procedure to get approved by the Workers' Compensation Board
"In the interim, they're in pain, so they spend that six or eight months in pain," he said.
For Buffalo workers' compensation attorney Kate Kirsh, who is also Waugaman's attorney, said she feels things need to change.
"The problem is, is that these laws for workers' compensation in New York, they were written over 100 years ago," Kirsh said.
Even Dr. Vigna said some of the state workers' comp guidelines should be updated to meet today's medical standards.
"It would help the patients get better quicker. It would give them less chance of developing a permanent problem, permanent pain," he said.
