The question boils down to the opportunity cost of waiting and fighting, as opposed to taking the settlement. An 8% rating is not particularly high, so it would appear that regardless of how critical the original injury may have been, that the permanent effects are not believed to be too great. The problem with refusing the settlement is that if the injury really isn't much worse, then your brother could spend a lot of time waiting, assuming that the employer decides that it wants to fight.

If it were me, I would want to get a second opinion from another physician, if your brother only has a single opinion thus far. If the second opinion is way off from the first, then your brother will know something is fishy, and he may want to hire a workers comp lawyer (if he hasn't already) to help with the claim.

For a workers comp attorney referral, see this link.

Hope this helps.

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