"Can I add another body part?"

Why this happens to almost everyone

Nothing in this system adds a body part on its own initiative.

The claim form lists a body part. The treating physician treats that body part. The medical-legal evaluator is asked about that body part in the letter sent before the examination. The permanent and stationary report addresses that body part. The rating covers that body part.

The second one — the shoulder you started using instead, the back that took over, the knee on the other side — contributes nothing unless somebody says something.

What can be added

Anything injured in the same event, even if it seemed minor at the time.

Anything that developed as a consequence — overuse of the opposite limb, the joint above or below, a fall caused by the injury, complications of treatment, medication side effects, CRPS. These are compensable consequences and they are compensable. More.

A cumulative trauma claim alongside a specific injury. These are frequently separate claims with separate dates of injury, and running them together is common. How.

And internal or systemic conditions — sleep, gastrointestinal effects of medication, and psychiatric consequences. Note § 4660.1(c)(1) bars increasing the rating for sleep dysfunction, sexual dysfunction, or psychiatric disorder for post-2013 injuries unless the injury was catastrophic or you were the victim of a violent act. How that exception works.

How to actually do it

1. Tell your treating doctor and make sure it goes in the note. Not "my shoulder hurts" — "left shoulder pain from overuse since the right shoulder injury." The causal sentence is what matters.

2. Notify the claims administrator in writing. Dated, specific, copy kept.

3. Make sure the medical-legal evaluator is asked about it — in the letter that goes out before the examination. An evaluator who was not asked will not address it, and a supplemental report costs months.

4. Do it early. Not at the settlement conference. This is the single most common avoidable loss in a California workers' compensation case.

If discovery has already closed

It is not automatically over, but it is much harder. The exception requires showing the evidence "was not available or could not have been discovered by the exercise of due diligence" before the conference — which is a real burden, and "nobody told me I could" does not meet it.

And if the case is already settled, whether anything can be done depends entirely on how you settled. If your case is settled and things got worse. · Can I reopen?