Christian Petrucci, a worker’s compensation and social security attorney, has written an informative article on injured workers’ ability to prove abnormal working conditions. Essentially, work-related injuries aren’t always physical. Often they can be psychological, which is a type of work injury that can be much harder to prove in a case. Psychological injuries fall under three main categories: physical/mental, mental/physical and mental/mental.
Physical/mental is when a psychological injury is caused by a physical mishap, for example, a closed head trauma. Mental/physical is when a psychological injury happens due to psychological stress that leads to a physical injury. Examples of these are high blood pressure, heart attack, irritable bowel syndrome and more. Mental/mental is when a psychological injury occurs from non-physical stimuli at work. Being that these cases are harder to prove, even the most experienced of attorneys are hesitant to take on this type of case.
One such case, Payes v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Commonwealth Pa. State Police), 2013 Pa. LEXIS 2588, was decided in favor of psychologically injured workers. In this case Philip Payes, a Pennsylvania state trooper, was driving his patrol car in the dark when a woman jumped out in front of him. The impact killed her, although Payes did try mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. This accident happened in November 2006 and Payes didn’t return to work until January 2007. Once he returned, he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the abnormality of the car accident. Therefore, he sought total disability benefits on an ongoing basis. It was denied by the employer the first time so Payes testified with proof of help from a psychiatrist and psychologist. It was found that although police officers are expected to undergo violent situations, this particular incident was an exception – It was “abnormal.” Therefore, Payes was granted the benefits, but only after significant litigation.
To learn more about the Payes v. W.C.A.B. case, check out the article here. Cases like these allow claimant’s attorneys to represent more psychologically injured workers. Although these types of cases are rather difficult, they are not impossible. If you or someone you know has suffered from a work injury, whether it be physical/mental, mental/physical or mental/mental contact a worker’s compensation lawyer today.
Christian Petrucci is a solo practitioner. He serves on the Board of Governors of the Philadelphia Bar Association as the Workers’ Compensation Section representative. He is also past co-chairman of the Section. He concentrates his practice in workers’ compensation litigation and Social Security disability and is certified as a specialist in the practice of workers’ compensation law by the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Section of Workers’ Compensation Law as authorized by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.