Our friend, Tim D., was born and raised in Washington Courthouse.
For nearly all of his adult work life, Tim worked as a machinist. On Aug. 29, 2019, he was working on a manual lathe on which a safety guard had been removed. His glove got caught, pulling his hand, wrist, arm, and chest into the machine, nearly severing his arm.
Photos taken by the trauma center doctors at Riverside Hospital in Columbus, where Tim was life-flighted, are horrendous. When Tim and I first met, I thought he’d likely lose the arm; it’s a miracle he didn’t. It is a testament to his skilled doctors and nurses that Tim’s arm, hanging by the smallest threads of tissue, was reconnected and is still usable.
Hospitalized and then in a skilled nursing facility for nearly six months, Tim received the obvious injuries to his left arm, was contaminated by machine residue; had fractured ribs repaired with plates; fractured his wrist, elbow, fingers, shoulder blade, and lumbar vertebra; suffered a collapsed lung; an ischemic stroke; and atrial fibrillation. His surgeries were numerous.
A year later, he suffered a second stroke as a residual from the first, requiring further hospitalization.
Understandably, he required treatment for major depression and anxiety resulting from his violent injury and cognitive impairment from the head injury and strokes. He has total loss of use of his left thumb and part of his left fourth finger.
Workers' Compensation Client is Successful in Injury Case
All things considered, Tim’s recovery has been remarkable. Though he remains unable to work, he’s generally in good spirits and enjoys getting out of the house more often to visit
friends and family. Through it all, Tim’s daughter, Tesa, and her husband, Bryan, have been there to encourage and help with the endless paperwork and doctor visits.
In 35-plus years of practice, Tim’s injury is among the worst I’ve seen. I’m grateful we’ve been able to walk alongside him through this often frustrating workers’ compensation process and introduce you to him.
