urgent info required

[sharkhunter]

Hi all, hope someone can help me here. I have been off work for six weeks now with a suspected slipped disc which has trapped my sciatic nerve, had an MRI scan last week and have been told that i need an operation on my back to relieve the pressure, gotta cut away some bone and replace with a foam packer type thing. It means that i shall now be off for an extra eight weeks now and funds are dwindling rapidly.

My question is about entitlements and what i can claim and from who, i have top up insurance to cover all my medical costs but not to cover loss of income. Can anyone shed any light on this for me, my French isn't good enough to understand written documents so please don't direct me to any government pages. Just plain straight forward info of who and where and i shall get a friend to help me the rest of the way with the spoken French.

Many thanks in advance, and in tremendous pain also,

Hugh.

PS i go for operation on Friday 15 th so any help before that would be great

[mint]

Sorry, Hugh, can't help in the practical way you need.  Just want to wish you well........

[Cerise]

Sorry to hear that - are you employed/self employed, bit more info might be able to point you in the right direction.

[Sunday Driver]

There is a standard procedure covering absence from work due to injury or illness.

In brief, your doctor issues you with an 'arret de travail' which you must submit to your healthcare caisse within 48 hours.  You are then entitled to a daily payment based on a formula taking into account your past income and limited by a maximum amount.  If your period 'off work' is to be extended, then your doctor must issue a further arret de travail covering the extended period.

If you are a salaried employee, then a copy of the initial arret must also be sent to your employer so that he can provide your caisse (CPAM) with your last three months payslips so they can calculate your benefit payment.  If you are self employed, then your caisse, (eg RSI) will use your last three years professional revenus for this purpose.

 

 

[sharkhunter]

Sweet 17, thanks for your thoughts, much appreciated.

Cerise, my apologies i should have mentioned this too, i am self employed and been registered with Ch de Met for four years.

SD, thanks again to you for your practical and mater of fact info, exactly what i needed. My doctor offered me an ' arret de travail' when i first went to him which i refused mainly cos i thought i would be ok within 2 weeks and didn't want to get into trying to claim for what i thought was a short term problem. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing........

I am as we type waiting for the doctor to return my call to set the wheels in motion,

again thanks to all who took time to reply,

Hugh.

[Cerise]

Check your insurances too as you may have cover for loss of revenue.

[sharkhunter]

hey guys, thanks again for the info, taken advice and all is under way as we speak, maybe slight problem with delay of Arret de Travail going in, have to wait and see.

As for the operation, all went well, had the op on Friday 15th, it turns out that my L5 vertebrae had actually snapped previously, as much as 20years ago even, this caused a narrowing in the cavity that runs down inside the spinal column, thereby trapping/pressing against the nerve. Had this cut away to relieve the pressure on the nerve and had a foam insertion put in to take care of the compression, hopefully to last my lifetime!!

Got out this morning at 10 am and home in time to get a nice warm cuppa, great.

Thanks again for all the help, Hugh.

[WJT]

Ouch! That sounds awful Sharkhunter, I am so sorry to hear your news.

My husband had a similar operation on a trapped nerve and had three discs removed years ago. He has very few problems nowadays. Hope you get everything sorted and you are back on your feet soon.