Workplace injuries aren't always physical as most physicians can attest. Often, observing an accident or another violent event can cause psychological injuries that are just as real as a broken arm. Those types of injuries aren't well understood or acknowledged by many employers or carriers. But one recent case in Tennessee turned out differently.
A worker who witnessed a shooting at work and then suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was found to be totally and permanently disabled, according to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court of Tennessee.
The case
Angela Evans, a bus driver for Alliance Healthcare Services, was transporting a counselor to a patient's home in response to a call from the patient's brother. When they reached the residence, the patient ran to the door carrying a gun. As the counselor and Evans entered the house, the patient shot the counselor.
The patient's brother got the gun away from the patient and called 9-1-1. The counselor was taken to a hospital and survived the attack.
Evans received mental health care through workers' compensation but she did not return to work for Alliance or any other employer.
Alleging that she was permanently and totally disabled by PTSD caused by witnessing the shooting, Evans went to court. She said that she had flashbacks and nightmares of the shooting incident and that she experienced severe depression. She said she also had difficulty sleeping, impaired attention and concentration, and intrusive memories of the shooting.
Evans argued that before the shooting, she was functioning normally with no known psychiatric or psychological problems. The shooting, Evans contended, was a specific, acute, sudden, unexpected and stressful event that caused her to develop PTSD; therefore, she asserted, her mental injury was compensable.
Alliance acknowledged the incident but asserted that Evans' continuing mental health problems were caused by other events and stressors. Its position was that the shooting initially may have caused Evans to have PTSD, but, as the years went by, the major causes of her mental difficulties were pre-existing conditions and numerous stressful events in her personal life.
The trial court found that Evans was permanently and totally disabled and that the shooting incident was the cause of her disability. The trial court awarded benefits, and the dispute reached the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court of Tennessee for a hearing as provided for by Tennessee law.
The panel's decision
The panel affirmed.
In its decision, the panel explained that it reviewed the depositions of the physicians who testified for each side, and that it agreed with the trial court's decision to give greater weight to the testimony of Evans' expert.
It followed that Evans' continuing symptoms had been caused by the shooting and that the subsequent events in Evans' life "did not constitute an independent intervening cause of her symptoms," the panel ruled.
The panel then rejected Alliance's argument that the trial court had erred by finding Evans to be permanently and totally disabled as a result of her compensable mental injury.
It acknowledged that Alliance's expert had testified that Evans' responses to psychological tests had been inconsistent and unreliable.
The panel added, however, that Evans' expert had opined that she was permanently and totally disabled — and it noted that Evans had testified that she did not believe she could hold a job because she was afraid to leave her residence alone. Concluding that a "claimant's own assessment of [her] physical condition and resulting disabilities" was "competent testimony" and could "not be disregarded," the panel upheld the trial court's finding that Evans was permanently and totally disabled.
The case is Evans v. Alliance Healthcare Services.
Steven A. Meyerowitz, Esq., (smeyerowitz@meyerowitzcommunications.com) is the director of FC&S Legal, the editor-in-chief of the Insurance Coverage Law Report, and the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc. This story is reprinted with permission from FC&S Legal, the industry's only comprehensive digital resource designed for insurance coverage law.
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