“They want a recorded statement.”

What it is actually for

It is not to understand your injury. The medical records do that.

It is to lock in a version of events — dates, distances, weights, times, prior injuries, prior symptoms — while your memory is imprecise and you are on medication, in pain, and unprepared.

And then to find inconsistencies later. Between the statement and the medical records. Between the statement and a coworker. Between the statement and what you tell an evaluator two years from now.

You will not remember, three years later, that you estimated the box weighed “about forty pounds” in a phone call you made from bed. The transcript will.

If you decide to do it

Ask for the questions in advance, or ask to respond in writing instead. Both requests are reasonable and are sometimes accommodated.

Answer only what is asked. Do not fill silence.

Do not guess. “I don’t remember” and “I’m not sure” are complete, truthful answers. Guessing at a weight, a distance, a date, or a time is the single most damaging thing that happens in these calls.

Do not minimize. “I’m fine” and “it’s not that bad” are reflexes, and they are quoted back.

Do not speculate about causes — yours or anyone’s.

Mention every body part, including ones you have not yet complained about.

If you need an interpreter, insist on a certified one. Your right to one.

And ask for a copy of the recording or the transcript.

A word about prior injuries

You will be asked about them, and the honest answer is the right one — prior injuries do not defeat a claim.

ApportionmentApportionment Dividing permanent disability between industrial and non-industrial causes. It is to disability, not to findings on an image. is to prior disability, not to prior injury. A prior injury that fully resolved caused no disability. And a prior disability may open a SIBTFSIBTF Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund. Pays where a pre-existing disability plus an industrial injury produce a substantially greater disability. Rewritten by SB 171 in July 2026. claim, which is money in addition to what the employer owes. How SIBTF works — and what SB 171 changed in July 2026.

What does damage a claim is denying something that is in a medical record somewhere.