The obligatory solicitation for medical advice from anonymous companions

[hamachimaki]

I've got a relative who's been sick for a few weeks.  She's had nearly constant diarrhea (lost 20-25 pounds in the last 4-5 weeks).  She's off work now unpaid after using up her sick leave and vacation time.

There's been no success diagnosing her illness so far.  She's getting a colonoscopy next week.  As is ever the case, I'm curious if her life-

Comments

[composerjk]

They've likely already checked for C.diff. At this point, she's hopefully already talking to a good GI doc (gastroenterologist).

She should also likely be filing for short-term disability.

Hope they diagnose her soon.

[hamachimaki]

Re short-term disability, I got:

"She doesn't qualify at this point ... she'd have to be sick for a much longer term. The requirement is a person being unable to work for a year before an application can be filed; right now, anyway ..."

Any basis in fact? :)

[composerjk]

It depends on the short-term disability insurance, I believe. Though, the requirement mentioned sounds more like the waiting period until you can file for a long-term disability claim.

Short-term disability usually has a waiting period (varies from insurance to insurance, but can be as short as 7 days, for example) before payment will start kicking in. Then, there's some period after that (which can be a much longer period of time, like a year, even, I think) before you can switch to long-term disability.

She'd need to talk with her HR department and review the insurance that she has through her company. Of course, this all assumes that the disability insurance exists for her.

There may also be state related disability. Again, this varies. The insurance through the company usually supplements that so you get a little more.