Ray McCune's Website

2% ????

I received a disability retirement, 100% disabled. You know, the kind where you need someone to help you get out of bed in the morning and get dressed? I really needed the help. I couldn't reach above my head to put on a T shirt. I couldn't reach up to comb my own hair. Well, I got where I could do that at least, I had to, as wearing the CPAP machine is awful on the hair! Anyway, I was sent to a quack doctor from the BWC to assess my disability. Now how ever it turned out they would have to pay me for the amount I was disabled. I was totally disabled, 100% according to the people who are experts in the work that I do, or rather did, as I can't do it anymore. I mean you have to be able to dress your self at O dark thirty when the alarm goes off, and climb up in the fire truck and drive which requires being able to turn one's head more than 5 degrees each direction, then you have to get down out of the truck and physically "DO THINGS" lift and push and carry and walk upright, you know fireman stuff. I can't do any of that, but the Quack Doctor claimed I was 2% disabled.

2% !!!

The lowest number ever given by anyone I ever saw before, was 29%. And that was based on physical motion ability, simple range of motion things, not including pain levels and the ability to remain in one position, or ability to hold, carry, or lift. When those things were considered (it is a multiplier) I was more than 100% screwed up. And this moron came up with 2%!

Hiring the answer you want.

It should be obvious what the game is, but I can't believe it is played so openly. There is no hint of integrity left in this system. But the best is yet to come. When I fell in NOV of 2003 I severely twisted my neck which had been getting better "with therapy" from a fall I had in March of 2003. Now it gets confusing so pay attention. I whip lashed my neck falling on some ice in march 2003. I had therapy, it was getting better. I fell through the floor in a house fire in Nov. of 2003 and my neck was severely twisted, due to my air mask getting caught as I fell. My neck got worse and continued to get worse for two and a half years. Neither my doctor or my lawyer or the nurses I regularly conversed with at CareWorks ( which neither cares or works), would ever put anything in writing calling attention to this injury! I told them all, in letters, emails and in person, and they would just go yeah, yeah, and move on. I really don't understand it at all. The best I ever got from my Lawyer was that we already had an allowance for a neck injury, so this was the easiest way to go, rather than muddying the waters with the truth, which could be hard to prove.

Getting Something Done!

I finally had a surgery that has greatly improved my physical situation. I could only have it (the surgery) because Workers Comp had dumped me, I couldn't even get an MRI as long as they were "looking out for my best interests". So when they finally sent me a letter stating that they felt there was no further reason to care for me. I finally was able to schedule, and get, an MRI. With the results, I consulted a neurosurgeon, and scheduled the required surgery. After I had the surgery, the day after I had the surgery, I was better. Remarkably better. In fact, so much better, that I have been told by my children, that I am very much like I was before the accident. Excepting the weight gain and the mental destruction (memory loss) due to the drugs, I must agree.

And to add a new wrinkle, the city has changed my MCO. I don't know if they changed it for everyone or just me. If they changed it for everyone it might be due to the lawsuit they are in. It turns out the city of Akron has been screwing all police and fire out of their "after retirement medical benefits." And as Care Works is a bastard child of Medical Mutual of Ohio, and some of the issue is over the illegality of having "Med MuT" be a secondary insurer. When by state law they have to be the primary insurer, ( the company we have been covered by the longest, by law), the city has forced the police and fire retirees to carry another insurance policy. Even though it is clearly stated in every contract to the present, that the city will provide insurance for the retirees. Of course because the city controls the kangaroo courts of Akron it was lost in local court, but will undoubtedly be overturned when it leaves the control of the DON and gets to a real court. But be that as it may, I have been changed to a new MCO I've never heard of I'm expecting this to require all new authorizations for meds and new doctors appointments with a new series of Quacks and, well you get the picture," business as usual" Obfuscation and smoke and mirrors. THE Ohio BWC way...

I'm discovering many of the things that were screwed up in the Akron BWC operation are more likely results of the MCO than the BWC. Now I'm not going soft on the Akron BWC, I still know it's minions are owned by "THE DON" but I've come to realize, now that the drugs are losing their effectiveness, that the MCO really sets things up to minimize the amount of useful information available. They accomplish this, either by refusing diagnostic imaging or investigation, or delaying the results until after a hearing. For example, they continually denied the MRI of my cervicle spine until I had suffered for two years causing irreversible damage to some nerves. When they were finally out of the picture, due to BWC refusing responsibility three times, my private insurance immediately identified the problem, and I was able to get it surgically repaired. I then went, with the new information, to the new BWC office, and had the injury allowed, as an aggrivation of a "preexisting problem", proof of which was provided by Akrons Lawyers.

Screw the Injured, and keep those lawyers in the green.....

Do you have any idea how much fuel a Mercedes uses in a week, of golfing and zooming up to Put in Bay and the Flats, and hitting a few rounds in Columbus with the good ole' boys? My god these things aren't real good on fuel you know, How am I going to keep up my lifestyle of decadence if these guys start getting a regular check? OH wait, I'm not a lawyer I'm a crippled Fireman, i can't play golf, I can't ride in a car for over an hour at a time. I couldn't afford a Mercedes if it was given to me, let alone use much in the way of fuel in it. I'm lucky to get up and get myself dressed, I'm happy if the drugs on hand are sufficient for the pain. I'm lucky to be able to bend over and pick up a quarter from the floor if I find one.

Different set of needs for some reason, OH yeah, I remember, I used to get up three or four times a night and run into burning buildings and drag people and their pets and valuables out of the smoke and heat of their own stupidity. Or climb to the top floor of dilapidated structures and rescue people too sick or fat or both , and carry their massive asses to the hospital because they wouldn't quit eating or smoking or doping or what ever put them there. That's why my back is ruined, my shoulders both ripped up and I walk with a pronounced limp. Because I helped people too dumb to help themselves.... wonder who's really dumb?