the post-traumatic stress disorder dilemma for workers' compensation claims |
Doesn't the employer take employees as it finds them, susceptible to PTSD or not?
Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., our Feature National Columnist, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers' compensation.
In 2010, reacting to what is generally recognized as a significant national issue, Congress designated June 27 each year as National Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day. Indeed, according to estimates published by The National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, some 7.8 percent of Americans will experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives. Women appear twice as likely to suffer from the condition than men. Among our servicemen and servicewomen, the numbers are even more alarming. As many as 30 percent of the men and women who have spent time in war zones experience PTSD.
Because the employer generally takes the employee as it finds him or her, such that all the medical consequences and sequel that flow from the primary injury are compensable, employers, claims administrators, and insurers have begun to view PTSD as an ongoing and difficult challenge to claims management and administration...read more. |
LARSON'S SPOTLIGHT ON RECENT CASES |
Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., our Feature National Columnist, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers' compensation.
Pennsylvania: "Widow" Did Not Establish Common Law Marriage by Exchange of Vows in Wyoming: No Surviving Spouse Death Benefits Could Be Recovered. A Pennsylvania appellate court recently affirmed the denial of a petition seeking death benefits under � 307(3) of the state's Workers' Compensation Act...read more.
Federal: Work Comp Insurance Adjuster's Retaliatory Discharge Action Fails When Investigation Shows She Padded Resume and Exaggerated Employment Experience. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the granting of summary judgment in favor of an insurance company/employer sued for retaliatory discharge by a disgruntled claims adjuster, who contended...read more.
Federal: Carrier's Subrogation Claim May Not Be Removed to Federal Court. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held the issue of whether a workers' compensation insurance carrier was entitled to subrogation following a settlement between a third party and the insurance beneficiary employee arose under...read more.
Massachusetts: University's Control of Public Street Doesn't Turn Street Into Its "Premises," Injury Claim Barred by Going and Coming Rule. In a decision designated as unpublished, the Appeals Court of Massachusetts held that an M.I.T. employee, who sustained injuries in an accident as he drove his motor scooter home from work...read more. |