CNA’s Deadly Paper Games and Outright Lies Condoned by the Department of Labor

How do AIG and CNA get away with telling so many lies and paying for so little ?  

They get help from those put in place to “ensure that workers’ compensation benefits are provided promptly and properly” 

The Department of Labor’s Jacksonville Florida District Office Director Charles D Lee, formerly of Liberty Mutual, gave his seal of approval to CNA’s lies by refusing to find them in default of an order that he signed himself.  It took seven years to get this order.

If Mr. Lee does not remember signing this order over two years ago he should.  While he signed the order for medical and indemnity probably without reading it, slapped a form cover letter to it,  he did not bother to determine the amount of back indemnity and interest owed which allowed CNA to not pay on time and escape the 20% per day penalty.   So few penalties apply and so little enforcement of those that do.

It took many telephone calls and finally assistance from Michael Niss, the Director, Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs at the time,  to encourage him to do his job.  He was not going to do it just because an injured contractor had not received his check  and was trying to find out why.

The failure on the District Director’s part to find CNA in 18 a Default occurred despite having in his possession legitimate proof, letters from Doctors stating that they had never been approved and had in fact been denied payment.

Proof of CNA lies to the new Claims Examiner, who comes to us from KBR with a KBR attitude, are ignored by everyone in the DoL from herself, Charles D Lee, Kristina Hall, to Eric Richardson, Miranda Chui, to the DOL IG.

CNA never produced a receipt for paying back  years of Medical Care that they were responsible for and refused to provide but Charles D Lee determined that they did so based on their attorney saying  that they did. 

CNA paid for a small fraction of the past medical care, finally, 16 months after the order was signed.  While this is clearly a 16 month default during which time the claimant has this debt hanging over his head despite having an Order in place, CNA is not held responsible.  A receipt has never been produced.  Charles D Lee takes them at their word while their lies are in his hands.

No dollar value is applied to the damages caused by a refusal to provide medical care for years on end and so there is no penalty or recovery.

We talk with contractors everyday who have orders in place for medical that  never receive it. 

The lengthy efforts your attorney must go through to try, not necessarily succeed, to secure the medical care is considered to be “Janitorial” work by CNA that they should not have to pay for.

Why not continue with the Deadly Paper Games when it saves you so much money and the very people that are supposed to be looking out for the claimant condone these criminal actions?

No dollar value is applied to the temporary injuries which become permanent at the hands of CNA.

The hands of CNA, their claims examiners, and their attorneys are so gently stroked by the Departments of Labor’s Jacksonville District Office. 

The Blood is on all of their hands.

Vetted International Celebrates Their Fifth Anniversary

” Before (Vetted) attended to my file, I almost died of infections. This company came to South Africa and negotiated with all of my medical suppliers…Vetted was the best thing that could have happened to the South African Contractors. “

Raleigh, NC (PRWEB) May 6, 2010 — Vetted International, Ltd. (http://www.vetted-intl.com) turns five years old today and celebrates their milestone with a reflection on their history and the journey ahead

As a former US Marine and City of Raleigh Police Officer, Vetted CEO Brian Sjostedt has worked a lifetime of public service and never anticipated celebrating a five year anniversary as a private company’s chief executive. Sjostedt founded Vetted International in May 2005 after spending 14 months in Iraq temporarily assigned from his Police Department to assist with reconstruction efforts. Sjostedt lived “outside the wire” in Baghdad’s Al Mesbah District, and served with a contracted Defense & Logistics firm as the Security Manager and was later promoted to Deputy Director of Operations. Sjostedt ended his assignments in Iraq as the company Director of Operations. Brigadier General Henry Miller (US Army, Retired) described Sjostedt’s reliability in a letter as “being counted on for thoroughly researched advice and an honest appraisal whenever asked…I trust his leadership and decision making abilities in difficult situations.”

While in Iraq, Sjostedt was exposed to extraordinary courage by the local Iraqi personnel assigned to his protection details. “I was always amazed at the level of sacrifice they were willing to make for us at minimal wages,” stated Sjostedt. The employees he was referring to had diverse and useful backgrounds. “Their previous experiences included officers in Saddam Hussein’s former Republican Guard and former US Agency operatives that lost their jobs after the initial occupation was successful.”

Operations in Iraq resulted in catastrophic casualties and fatalities in Sjostedt’s company. Before departing Iraq, Sjostedt started Vetted International to provide additional income to the employees he regarded as his protectors during his stay. Sjostedt learned of a law called the Defense Base Act in which compensation benefits were statutorily due in cases that the contractors were injured or killed while supporting the United States mission. “I never saw those benefits paid when I was there, so Vetted’s employees were trained to investigate facts surrounding incidents.” Insurance companies and injured contractors that had an interest in those facts quickly became the beneficiaries of Vetted’s investigations.

Vetted further identified a lack of sufficient medical care for Iraqis working to support the US mission and quickly assembled a team of doctors and coordinators to provide services according to United States standards of care. Multiple lives were saved as a result. Vetted has specialized in catastrophic injury medical management, impairment assessment, prosthetics procurement, patient training, emergency evacuations and remains repatriation.

Vetted’s services were not only limited to local Iraqis. Other patients covered under the Defense Base Act came from numerous countries such as Fiji, Nepal, Australia, United Kingdom, South Africa, Peru and Chile. Vetted would continue to manage the medical care of those patients after they were evacuated home. In anopen letter, a contractor in South Africa describes his care with Vetted; “Before (Vetted) attended to my file, I almost died of infections. This company came to South Africa and negotiated with all of my medical suppliers. Most of all they settled my debts…Vetted appointed a medical professional to take care of my day to day needs. They further looked at how they were going to get my life back to normal as possible….Vetted was the best thing that could have happened to the South African Contractors.”

While services initially started with decisive reactions to incidents, Vetted is now focusing on prevention. “We want to mitigate risk more so than respond to it, so we are encouraging our clients to participate in pre-deployment loss prevention programs that include baseline dental, medical, psychological screening, background checks, and cultural and regional training,” stated Sjostedt.

In the past five years, Vetted International has completed assignments in 54 countries.

Vetted International is a corporate and government solution based company headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. Vetted utilizes a global network of integrity driven local national professionals to minimize risk and implement responsive action plans in various permissive and non-permissive environments. Foreign and domestic insurance companies, financial institutions, government departments and ministries, government agencies and contractors and healthcare organizations have relied on Vetted’s unique capabilities.  More on Vetted here