Can you trust the workers comp nurse case manager?

Workers comp insurance companies always want to assign nurses or nurse case managers to talk with you, meet with your doctor, attend your medical appointments.  

Can you trust them?

In a word, no.

Nurse case managers work for the insurance company and that's where their loyalty is.  Their job is to save money for the insurance company by limiting your medical treatment and the amount of workers comp benefits you should be getting.

Here's a true example of how they work.  A few months back, one of these nurses met with our D.C. workers compensation client's doctor after the doc examined the injured worker.  She tried to convince the treating doctor (a specialist) to send the injured worker back to work before he was ready.
 
The doctor, who had his patient's best interest at heart, refused.  His patient needed more time and treatment to recover from a serious back injury.

The nurse gave him a form, which he filled out and signed, indicating the injured worker could not return to work.
 
 Did the nurse send it to us?  No.  Since it wasn't helpful to the insurance company, she "forgot" - and since it wasn't part of the patient's medical chart, we had no idea it existed until many months later.