My mother had an accident at her place of work yesterday that began with a high ladder and ended up with the paramedics arriving. I'm just glad that she didn't injure a more critical area like the head or the back, though she did end up shattering part of her lower leg. I didn't even find out about it until hours after it happened when one of her friends call me at home because they didn't have my work number on file.

She is going in for surgery tomorrow morning with whom I'm told is one of the best orthopedic surgeons in Florida where he will partially reconstruct the area below her knee with donor bone and then reinforce the area with a metal clip. I was told that she wouldn't be able to walk for six weeks and then would need to spend several more months in rehab, a cane, and a metal brace (think Forest Gump) before would be back to her usual limber self.

I've searched the Florida workers compensation website and from what I understand is that all of her medical payments will be pretty much covered by the company's disability insurance and she will not need to reply on her personal insurance (United Health HMO). Florida also offers a temporary total disability benefit of 66% of the average of her last 13 weeks of earnings for up to 102 weeks. Hopefully she'll be better in a fraction of that time.

However, what I need to know is if there is any other area where she can draw disability benefits from. Does anyone know if her personal insurance from United Health (purchased through her employer) would augment the disability benefits paid out by the State of Florida. Would her company (large publicly traded retailer) also provide disability benefits as well in addition to the medical coverage in the hopes that we don't sue them for using such shitty ladders and asking their employees to work extra hours? My mom has never had a serious injury before and I'm totally clueless as to what steps to take so any bit of help would be appreciated. I'm not exactly expecting sterling legal advice but I would like to be pointed in the general direction of where I can find out what my options are.