The Alfred Firm has secured a life-changing, but confidential, settlement on behalf of a scaffold-builder who suffered career-ending injuries at a refinery located in Orange, Texas. As a result of this incident, our client was forced to undergo a major spinal surgery through his employer's workers compensation coverage. As is often the case, our client was referred to a “company doctor” following this incident.

Our client's employer, or its workers compensation insurance carrier, likely had a working relationship with the company doctor’s office. In fact, most "company doctors" realize that their treatment of injured workers is often discussed amongst industrial company representation and their insurance carriers.

In our experience, we've found that the most popular company doctors' main goal is to get the employee back to work, with as little treatment as possible. One of the main questions our work injury clients have is, “Can I choose my own doctor?". Fortunately, the answer is YES. 

The Alfred Firm Empowers its Clients Against "Company Doctors"

The Alfred Firm encourages our clients to seek second opinions when the "company doctors" attempt to force them back to work before they're ready.Our clients are always reminded of their rights under the Texas Workers Compensation Act to get a second opinion and to choose their own doctor. In order to change your treating physician, or the doctor your company referred you to, you must complete Texas Department of Insurance Form DWC053. This form allows an employee to change their treating physician to the physician of their choice.

The Alfred Firm Secures Surgery for Client Through Employer's Workers Compensation Coverage

After suffering a severe back injury, our client's CT scan showed that he had a cracked vertebrae in his lower spine. Despite this, the company doctor would not approve an MRI scan to determine whether his spinal discs were affected. We jumped to action and filed the necessary paperwork to have the "company doctor" replaced. Our client was immediately recommended to receive the MRI scan, which clearly showed severely herniated discs in his lower spine that would only be fixed by surgery. Our client's self-selected doctor was able to successfully perform the surgery without any further issues.

Amanda Zubire is the Chief of Staff/Head Paralegal at The Alfred Firm. Amongst the top paralegals in the country, Amanda has been Byron Alfred’s Senior Paralegal and Case Manager since 2015.

As Chief of Staff, Amanda contributes to all of The Alfred Firm’s business objectives, provides direct support in discovery for all catastrophic injury cases, manages all staff level team members, and is the point person for productivity and client relations – based initiatives. 

Amanda has been lead paralegal in all of Attorney Byron’s jury trials since 2015 and, together, they have never lost a jury trial.  In September 2018, Amanda was the lead paralegal on the case where the jury awarded a $44,370,000 verdict for the family of a rigger who died in a crane accident. This verdict was the #1 ranked work injury verdict in Texas in 2018 and a Top 10 Work Accident Verdicts in the United States in 2018.

Amanda is a 2014 Graduate of the University of Houston.