Full Transcript for 26 Years in and Still Standing: A Deputy's Heart Bill Story

and Kristine Callagy: you Kenneth Youngblood: You know, it was two separate issues and two separate things. So we ended up filing a paperwork with you guys and went through an entire process. It took about, I don't know, what about almost a year to deal with, I think. Maybe less than that, right around a year going back and forth with depositions and statements and applying for benefits. And then we essentially ended up in a trial in front of a workman's comp judge up in St. Louis County. Kristine Callagy: Yeah. what we did to kind of start that process off was file the petition for benefits. And that's kind of like ⁓ workers comp version of starting litigation. And they did, they took your deposition. ⁓ What you remember from that? What was that experience like when they took your depo? Kenneth Youngblood: It's just in anything we do with the law enforcement side. They try to get you caught up in this or caught up in that and it wasn't there. It was just plain facts, basic simple stuff. We weren't trying to pull anything over their eyes or try to hide anything or sneak anything in there. We were just stating the facts and they didn't want to hear it. Kristine Callagy: Yep, yep, that's true. then, at point after that, we went to the court ordered mediation, which everyone who files a petition in Workers' Comp is required to go to mediation, whether it's an open case or denied like yours was at the time. What do you remember about the mediation experience? What was that process like for you? Paolo Longo: Thank Kenneth Youngblood: was pretty much the same kind of not the questioning aspect of it, but the same thing and then basically trying to say, you know, hey, we don't think you got anything here and we're not going to really do much for you basically. ⁓ when I decided and we decided together, you hey, this is something worth fighting for. need to, Kristine Callagy: Mm-hmm. Kenneth Youngblood: go ahead and go on through with this and that's when we're taking the next steps. Kristine Callagy: Yeah, yeah. And that's what we did. And what we did is we hired what's called an independent medical evaluator, which is like our hired gun, so to speak, our medical expert. And so our expert said, yes, these are two different arrhythmias. AFib is completely different from tachycardia. And then of course, Workers' Comm got their own expert who said, well, no, they're related. They're the same thing. And so we had one doctor saying one thing. another doctor saying another. And our judge in that case appointed what's called an expert medical advisor, which is basically a tiebreaker doctor, right? The judge doesn't necessarily want to deal with all of the heady medical stuff that's going on between these two doctors. So they throw another doctor into the mix to break that tie, so to speak. And that doctor was up in Jacksonville. What do you remember about having to go there for that evaluation and seeing that EMA doctor? Kenneth Youngblood: I had to check your

phone. had to, sorry about that Mike, I got my little one running around here. I had to, I ⁓ up going up to Jacksonville. I went to our doctors, went to their doctor and obviously it was two separate different things. Their doctor was saying no, our doctor was saying yes. And then I drove up to Jacksonville. I remember getting up about 3.34 in the morning and drove up there and met with a doctor and Kristine Callagy: Mm-hmm. Kenneth Youngblood: met with him and he looked over all my stuff and he decided that we were right, our doctor was right and sided with us in the case and that's when we decided to go ahead and we went through with a trial. Kristine Callagy: Mm-hmm, yep, yep. And even though we got that favorable EMA opinion, and they still took us to trial, right? Because they were arguing that prior settlement agreement, despite what the EMA said about the medical side of things, they were arguing that that prior settlement agreement encompassed your AFib. So we had to have the judge not only look at the elements of the heart bill and what the EMA said, but we also had to have him interpret that prior settlement agreement. ⁓ and, and we went to trial, we, went to that live back when, when they still had an office down, down in your area in, St. Lucie. what do you remember about that day and those proceedings and, listening at, I'll never forget. were sitting there, you're sitting to my left and I'm trying to explain to the judge that these are totally separate conditions. And I was trying to separate my hands as far as I could. I remember almost smacking you in the chest when I was ⁓ all my rambling, but, what do you remember from that day? Kenneth Youngblood: It was just like any other trial, you had to bring in the present the facts and we had the facts they didn't. You did a great job presenting them. The judge ⁓ ruled in our I think it was a couple of weeks later because they reserved a rule. They don't rule right then in front of you, which is like most any civil case. So he ended up ruling in our favor. And that's when I was to get the proper benefits and care that they. ⁓ Kristine Callagy: Right. Kenneth Youngblood: that I was owed by the Workman's Company. Kristine Callagy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Paolo Longo: Yeah, let me jump in just for a second, Taylor, because we get a lot of, represent a lot of police, lot of fire all over the state. ⁓ question comes up all the time. People afraid to file a claim. They're nervous about filing a claim, not just going through the process, but they're worried about the job, right? They're worried about this is going to affect my career. They're going to stick me on midnights or I'm going to get fired. or some kind of other negative connotation. And so, in your case, I mean, you're still working, you never had any problems, your employer was great to you the entire time. Anytime you had any kind of work restrictions, there was always accommodation. It's important, the point I wanna make to somebody listening to this is that... You know, we're not dealing with the employer filing a claim isn't a fight with your sheriff or your chief or your, you know, whoever it is. We're dealing with the workers comp insurance company, right? They're the ones that are, that are trying to jam you up, not, not, you know, your, quote unquote job, right? So can you talk a little bit about that and your experience, you know, on the, on the work side while we're dealing with the workers comp insurance company? Kenneth Youngblood: Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ So, you know, unfortunately I've had a couple of different issues. So I've had to deal with it under two different administrations. you know, the first administration ⁓ great with everything. The second administration was basically the, he was the under sheriff under the first administration. So now he's my sheriff now. And when comes down to how I'm at work, they've never treated me differently. They've never. You know, it's always, you know, they call and check on me. They want to make sure I'm good. and I've been, you know, put on issues with light duty with, with work and stuff, which I'm currently on light duty now. They, I've been accommodated. I've been able to keep going to work. So I just got to sit home and do nothing. So that's nice. but yeah, I, you know, I, I, I know some, I know of some people who have been, ⁓ have been, don't want say scared. They've been reluctant to. file of his complaint because they're worried about they don't want to be blackballed. don't want to be, you know, put out of fashion. You know, we can't do nothing with this guy. that's not the case. Like were saying, it's 100 % has to do with the insurance company has nothing to do with your share for your chief or your fire chief, whether you're on the fire side, you know, there's that's, that's just the way it is. And like I said, I've had nothing but good experiences with both administrations I've had to deal with with mine. Paolo Longo: you Kenneth Youngblood: You know, I haven't been blackballed or stuck on midnight. So, you know, ended up on midnight because I chose to go to midnight and became a corporal. But that was one thing, you know. But I'm, I put it to one thing. Paolo Longo: Right, right. And, and I think it's important to stress that, is that, ⁓ know, there are going to be some people that have some kind of injuries ⁓ they're, look, they're just not going to be able to go back to do police work or fire service, you know, and that's a different scenario. ⁓ for most cases, especially with like arrhythmias, like on your case, or hypertension, blood pressure, stuff like that. you know, they're going to go back to work and they're going to finish their career, whether they're in a municipal pension or whether they're an FRS, you know, they're going to get to go back and finish their career. Right. And so, know, the message that we try to stress is look, they're not going to, ⁓ can't do that to you, you know? So it's nice to

hear a real story about somebody really going through this and saying, look, I'm still working. I'm still going to retire. I'm going to finish my career, ⁓ know, as well as get the medical care that I need and things like that. Kenneth Youngblood: Yeah, and I'll give you know, I plan on obviously this year I'm playing on this is year 26. I'm planning on the drop this year and we'll see what goes from there. I can, you know, obviously I won't bring the guy's name into it, but I know we have one one guy with us that was injured on the job and it ended up after a couple years of battling ⁓ the administration backing him and trying to get it figured out, end up having to end up having to do a medical retirement. But it wasn't because ⁓ administration forced it. They were actually on top of trying to help. At one point he ended up coming back full duty and then ended up with another re-injury of the issue and just wasn't able to fully recover from it and had some other complications going on. So he ended up having to do what was best for him and his family and take the medical retirement. Not wanting to, but that's where he ended up. where his feet landed and that's what he had to do. But it wasn't because he was pushed out the door by the administration at all. They were backing him 100 % trying to get him better too, so. Paolo Longo: Yeah, I mean, you sometimes you're going to get those situations. Somebody's got a really bad injury and they can't do it. mean, but that's that's a case by case basis. And again, that's going to be determined by the treatment. And, like you said, where their feet land, right, when they get done recovering, right. But that's not because their employer is pushing them out or they're firing them or demoting them or putting them on midnight and making them quit. That's not the. Kristine Callagy: Yeah, it's more of the exception than the norm. We see more of what you have, Tater, where they're working with you, they want you to come back, and you're able to come back. It's a very small percentage of people that have that permanent work restriction from their workers' comp doctor and from the injury where they can't go back and they have to look at medical retirement. Majority of people are able to recover and go back and live a normal life in their personal life, but also work full duty without any issues. keep coming back and finish out your years of service like you plan, like you're doing. Kenneth Youngblood: Let's play. Paolo Longo: Yeah. Yeah. And something that, that, that maybe we can focus on too, a little bit. And it's tater, especially in a case like yours, when, know, you file a claim and you know, it gets denied. That doesn't mean your case is over, right? I mean, the carriers can come up with all kinds of nonsense to deny a claim and multiple dates of accident too, which we see a lot of, right? I mean, you're kind of like your case kind of got a little bit of everything, right? Because, know, every time you have a new injury or, know, or new condition, Right, that's a brand new claim, right? It doesn't necessarily mean that it's related to the first one or the original one or to an old one. mean, every time comes up and you're out, that's a new claim, right? I mean, that ⁓ a little bit confusing sometimes, right? But, you know. Kenneth Youngblood: So, so I guess, guess the easy way to kind of give a scenario for that would be to, I've the different issues. I've had different claims, for the obviously for the that have never had to do work with common or standard. guess the easiest explanation would be to use a firefighter, you know, our, you know, our, our hose dragon buddies. They deal with a lot of chemicals. They deal with a lot of smoke. They deal with a lot of things that we don't have to. We still. deal with some of it, but they deal with it heck of a lot more than us. And there's firefighters that had two, three, four different forms of cancer. under the FRS and under the Work with the Cop, they're covered. And that would be, so if they end up with three different types of cancer and it's all job related, that's three different claims. That's three different scenarios. And I think that's kind of like the easiest way to explain it. Paolo Longo: You're hired. You're hired, Tater. Come on. your job and you're hired. Come on with us. We're going to put you on a payroll, Kenneth Youngblood: Huh. Kristine Callagy: ⁓ Yeah, Kenneth Youngblood: 2016 case, but. Kristine Callagy: Yeah, yeah. So you had the reoccurrence from your AFib ⁓ and a cardioversion last year. So ⁓ we a second claim. I mean, got clients who have ⁓ five and different dates of accident for the same issue. It's really not uncommon thing. But ⁓ after that reoccurrence, filed the new claim and they were smart enough to accept it this time. Kenneth Youngblood: last year. Kristine Callagy: But your doctors, you have your cardiologists and then the electrophysiologists that are authorized under the 2016 case came on board on the 2025 and they increased your impairment rating to a pretty significant rating. But that did not mean that you can't keep working, that you aren't able to do your day-to-day tasks at work. You're not able to do your day-to-day tasks in everyday life, at home with the kids and that sort of stuff. And a lot of people think you know, just like they're reluctant to file the claims, they think, okay, as part of that, my impairment is too high, that means I'm not going to be able to go back to work. But Tater, you're the shining example of that not being the case at all. Kenneth Youngblood: Yeah. In between the 2016 and last year when I had to, when we had to ref, or when they, when they decided, when they, when I went into February for a cardioversion in between there in 2022, I had an ablation, which they, they also covered then. So, I mean, I've had some stuff done and the doctor, doctor realized that looked at everything and that's when he made the adjustments he

made it or made the adjustments that he made. um, and then we just kind of went from there. Kristine Callagy: But. Kenneth Youngblood: And then I ended up, we'll jump I guess into the next one since we're already talking about them, we'll jump into 2025 of June. Kristine Callagy: June 2025, yep. Kenneth Youngblood: I ended up back in the hospital with a complete separate issue. Paolo Longo: So you got two separate dates of accident and then two separate MMIs and two separate impairment ratings. Kristine Callagy: Yeah, for the same condition. And then in June, he were hospitalized for a different heart issue for cardiomyopathy, which denied that one, making the same arguments as they made originally when we are litigating the 2016, that your cardiomyopathy was part of that prior settlement. And we litigated that literally the of the trial, they rolled over. ⁓ Yep. Kenneth Youngblood: February 26th. Kristine Callagy: Yeah, I mean, we've done all of our preparations together. We had our prep call together to go over everything. was ready. Yep. Yeah, we went to mediation. Yeah, they didn't take your deposition this time, but we had mediation and we did all of our prep and literally we were ready to go to trial that afternoon. And about 830 that morning, I got an email from opposing counsel and they wanted to wave their white flag. now you've got two Kenneth Youngblood: We tried to have a mediation with him. That went nowhere. Kristine Callagy: two days of oxygen for the AFib and then cardiomyopathy, two separate impairment ratings like Paolo said, and you're still able to work. and everything is being covered. Your procedures at the hospital, paid for that, right? Kenneth Youngblood: Yeah. And that's, and that's the thing too, is having you guys represent me is, know, over the years I've had issues where I've been sent bills. I've been sent this, you you owe us this money, you owe us that money. And I sent it to you guys up there and it's, I don't hear nothing else about it because it gets taken care of. That's the luxury of having you guys and a good team behind you and people know what they're doing is you don't have to worry about it. I get a bill in the mail and I don't think I'm supposed to pay it. And it's related to that. sent it to you guys and it's. Kristine Callagy: you Paolo Longo: More or not, yeah. Kenneth Youngblood: Out of my hands. Paolo Longo: Well, and that's an important thing too, right? For people that are thinking, well, I'll just deal with it on my own, right? If you'd made that decision, you know, back in, you know, 11 or 12, right? Think about all the procedures that you've had done. Think about all the hospital stays, all the co-pays, the deductibles, you know, out of pockets for medicine, doctor's appointments, things like that. I mean, I'm that that's a big chunk of change ⁓ you know, you would had to pay out of your own pocket. Kenneth Youngblood: Mm-mm. I had one they tried to give me to pay us $48,000. I mean, that's one example, 48 grand. And I told them, they started calling me and I said, I've sent everything to my attorneys. They'll be contacting you and they did the right thing. They didn't call me back. They waited till you guys went through what we had to go through and it was taken care of. Kristine Callagy: Yeah. ⁓ Paolo Longo: Right. Right. Kristine Callagy: Mm-hmm. Paolo Longo: Right, but I hear that a lot. I hear that a lot. They're like, I'll just deal with it on my own. I'll deal with it on my own. But, yeah, and unfortunately, this cardiac stuff doesn't typically get better. I mean, the doctors do the best they can to sort of keep it, ⁓ but Kenneth Youngblood: That's Paolo Longo: you never know what's gonna happen. It could get worse. One problem can cause another and then all of sudden, over three or four years, you're in the hospital three or four times and then you're paying three or four different deductibles and three or four different co-pays and starts adding up and then you're like, wish I had, ⁓ should ⁓ drank my V8 ⁓ at least reported this earlier. mean, whether it's us or somebody else, you have... comp involved because you the medical this stuff can get can get out of control especially with the hospital bills I mean one bill forty thousand bucks ⁓ I mean seems that's definitely a lot of money ⁓ but I've ⁓ cases with two or hundred thousand somebody ends up with a bypass I mean that is that is a very expensive surgery ⁓ Kristine Callagy: Yeah. Paolo Longo: And then so, you I think lesson is, ⁓ involved early this stuff, report your claim, get it filed because you never know what's gonna happen, especially two, three, five years down the road. ⁓ and imagine you file a claim and you didn't get the coverage, right? Would you be able to finish your year? ⁓ would you be able to and do, five years or more a drop? ⁓ maybe not, ⁓ right? ⁓ So the benefits are, ⁓ the juice is the as they say. ⁓ Kenneth Youngblood: 100%. Kristine Callagy: Yeah, and they're paying for everything for you, right? So you get your office visits covered, your medications, and all that is, you never get any bills for that stuff. It's all covered, you know, through. Kenneth Youngblood: Yeah, definitely 100%. Yep. Yeah, the only thing you get that you have to pay once you hit MMI is your other doctor is $10. Well, I, you know, yeah, yeah. Kristine Callagy: If they ask you for it, some of the doctors don't ask for it. I always hope you don't volunteer it. Kenneth Youngblood: Yeah. Kristine Callagy: That's the only thing. But your experience with your doctors has been good overall. mean, at least from my perspective. Would you agree with that? You've had some good luck with Rankovic and Dr. Goldman. Kenneth Youngblood: Yes. I first started out with Workman's Comp of the Heart Stuff, it was Dr. Bradley, then he retired. ⁓ got Dr. Goldman, and was dealing with Dr. Rankovic prior. And then once he came on to Workman's Comp, he's helping with Dr. Goldman and trying to keep

the old ticker ticking right. ⁓ then both fantastic doctors. They ⁓ both, I've out, you hear the horror stories, and we'll get to that. Kristine Callagy: Mm-hmm. Thank Paolo Longo: you Kenneth Youngblood: part in a second of what you can do about that. But you hear the horror stories about... People have horrible doctors. I've looked out to where mine have been 100 % great. They've been advocates for me. They've helped me get through this stuff. know, you know, I'm, you know, I'm six, six, 300 pounds, but they've held my hand through it all. And I've appreciated it. You know, it's, ⁓ it's comforting knowing that the doctors you have care for you and truly want to be good for you. And then, ⁓ but like you said, though, there is horror stories where people have doctors that they just can't get nothing done with. don't. The doctors don't want listen to him and this and that. And if you don't have an attorney and you don't any of this stuff, you don't know that there's actually an option where you can have a one-class switch to a different doctor. And a lot of folks, if they try to handle this stuff on their own, they don't know that. They're just like, ⁓ I'm screwed. I'm stuck with this doctor. I'll just deal with what he's got to deal with and hope for the best. ⁓ Kristine Callagy: Or a lot of times what we see, we get calls from people who had a case and they had a doctor that they didn't like. And instead of hiring a lawyer, trying to figure out what the workaround could be, they just stopped going to that doctor and let their statute of limitations run. And then they're four years into retirement and end up needing a bypass surgery. then... then it's on their dime because they let their statute run as opposed to, you know, exploring their options, getting some good legal advice about getting a one-time change and getting to somebody different to keep that case open. You know, they're stuck footing the bill for that surgery, that procedure. Paolo Longo: Yeah. So, kind of to come full circle and sort of wrap it up, Tater, if you could, imagine like, ⁓ you a bunch of rookies, right? Listening to this right now. What is, ⁓ what the one piece of advice, you could give the, the young, the next generation, right? Of either police, fire, corrections guys coming in, they're all 25 years old. They're all strong. They're all fit. Right? But what happens, after a career's worth of this work, ⁓ what some advice, one thing you want them to know? Kenneth Youngblood: Um, I mean, I'm one of the end of the day, listen to your body. It's going to tell you what works and don't work. Um, but when it comes time to take care of yourself, don't be like we talked earlier on in the pot in the, the podcast here, don't, don't be afraid to, to seek the benefits that you're owed. I mean, they're there for a reason. We go out here and, you know, I mean, obviously everybody, when they walk out the door, they don't know if they're coming home, but you know, our careers are that those odds are stacked a little bit higher against us. And just the stress of the things. They say the average person deals, the average regular person deals with four or five maybe traumatic events in their lifetime. And then you take somebody who's been in law enforcement for 25 years or more, and you're in several hundreds of traumatic events. And that takes a toll on you. You know, people fought over the years to get these benefits and these rights in place for us to protect us and take care of us after we, you know, give 25, 30, sometimes 40 years of your life to this place. And, know, I've been to law enforcement or being a first responder, firefighter, paramedics. You know, I've been doing this my entire adult life since I was 18. So I'm looking forward to the end and enjoying life. So I'm gonna do what I can to take care of myself. Paolo Longo: Yep, well that's a good message man. I appreciate your time, Taylor. Thank you so much. Thank you for being a friend. Thank you for trusting us and thank you for your service to of our communities, man. We really appreciate it. Kristine Callagy: Thank you so much. Kenneth Youngblood: Yeah, thank you guys for always being there. And like I said, without you guys, I wouldn't have had the care and stuff I've had. I would have had to pay a lot out my own pocket, which is good I didn't have to. Paolo Longo: All right, be well, Tater. Thank you. Kristine Callagy: Thank you. Kenneth Youngblood: All right, see you later.