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Monday, February 11, 2008

North Dakota Media Starting Biased, One-Sided Coverage Of Worker’s Compensation Issue

By Rob on February 11, 2008 at 10:14 pm
5 Comments
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I see that the Fox News affiliate in Fargo is running a series of stories about North Dakota’s worker’s compensation agency and denied claims, and guess who they’re interviewing for the first two segments?  Why, an injured worker’s attorney (Mark Schneider, who also just happens to be Democrat Insurance Commissioner candidate Jasper Schneider’s uncle) and an allegedly injured worker.  And what are they going to say?  That North Dakota’s worker’s compensation agency unfairly denied claims.

But then, what else would they say?  I mean, they’re not exactly objective observers of the situation now are they?

And there’s a problem with reporting their claims: There’s no way to verify them, and there’s no way for the people at Workforce Safety to rebut them in detail.  Why?  Because details about injured worker claims are strictly confidential.  The injured workers themselves can selectively release all the details they want, and to a more limited extent so can their lawyers (with the approval of their clients), but WSI is restrained by the law from revealing anything.

I have a bit of a unique perspective on this because I actually worked for Workforce Safety for nearly a decade as a contract private investigator working on fraudulent worker claims.  I’ve seen media coverage like this before (reporter Patrick Springer wrote a notoriously bad, one-sided series of articles about worker’s compensation in North Dakota for the Fargo Forum back in 2001) and can tell you that about 2/3’s of the injured workers who end up getting interviewed are complete and utter frauds.  How do I know?  Because I worked on their cases.

Now I can’t reveal which workers are liars and cheats and which aren’t because of the aforementioned confidentiality issues, but I can assure you that most of these people had their claims denied for good reason.

So before you go believing some sob story from an injured worker claimant you see interviewed on television, consider that you’re probably not getting the full story.

Comments

Avatar for David Weisman

So Fox news is biased?  I agree there.  You mean liberally biased?  Well.  Of course you could just say they’re careless and sensational, maybe populist.

I can’t help thinking that if you always work for one side, the methodology you were trained with might not always be unbiased.

David Weisman on February 12, 2008 at 01:42 am
Steve L.

My sister was a claims adjuster for the state high-risk workers comp pool.  She regularly denied claims because of what the investigators uncovered.  As Rob said, when you hear a claimant screaming about injustice, chances are you aren’t getting the full story.

"Although I can accept talking scarecrows, lions and great wizards in emerald cities, I find it hard to believe there is no paperwork involved when your house lands on a witch.”
- Dave James

Steve L. on February 12, 2008 at 07:02 am
The Whistler

Before they interview them they should demand that the “oppressed claimant” sign a full release form for their case. 

If they aren’t doing that then they aren’t engaging in good journalism.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

The Whistler's signature
The Whistler on February 12, 2008 at 07:16 am
likwidshoe

David Weisman - So Fox news is biased?  I agree there.  You mean liberally biased?  Well.  Of course you could just say they’re careless and sensational, maybe populist.

He didn’t say anything about anything being liberally biased.

Check out the title there, chief. Get yourself up to speed.

likwidshoe on February 12, 2008 at 08:38 am
iAMbs

"So before you go believing some sob story from an injured worker claimant you see interviewed on television, consider that you’re probably not getting the full story.”

My thoughts exactly whenever I hear sob stories from proponents of universal health care.  Sometimes there are sound MEDICAL reasons to deny certain treatments.  And sometimes not.  The point being we never get the full story.

iAMbs on February 12, 2008 at 09:18 am
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