daTeofinJuryforPTSdCaSeS
Workers ’ Compensation Section Chairs : AnthonyCortese – AnthonyV . Cortese-AttorneyatLaw , IreneM . Rodriguez – IreneM . Rodriguez , P . A ., Ya ’ SheakaWilliams – Eraclides , Gelman , Hall , Indek , Goodman
PTSdiscausing someunusual rulingsonthe determinationof thedateofinjury .
Post-traumatic stress syndrome , referred to as PTSD , is causing some unusual rulings on the determination of the date of injury .
In City of Hallandale v . Casey , No . 1D21-2138 ( Fla . 1 DCA , Nov . 30 , 2022 ), the claimant was a police officer who responded to the active shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14 , 2018 . As he was helping to clear and secure the building , he saw the bodies of dead students and an adult . He began to have episodes of anger , nightmares , and anxiety . In October 2018 , the city provided a mental health seminar , and he realized he might have PTSD . He asked a supervisor for assistance , met with supervisors on November 19 , 2018 , and was immediately placed on administrative leave . The employer / carrier authorized a psychiatrist for PTSD treatment for him as a first responder under F . S . 112.1815 ( 2 )( a )( 3 ), and the claimant was put on light duty and then terminated . The employer / carrier did not pay indemnity on the basis that the date of injury was February 14 , 2018 , and the law that added
indemnity benefits for PTSD for a first responder PTSD claim was not effective until October 1 , 2018 , under F . S . 112.1815 ( 5 ).
The Judge of Compensation Claims held that PTSD qualified as an occupational injury , and the date of disability for an occupational injury can be considered as the accident date . Since the date the claimant was placed on administrative leave and effectively disabled was November 19 , 2018 , the Judge held that November 19 , 2018 , was the effective accident date . Therefore , since it was after the October 1 , 2018 , effective date of the law allowing indemnity , the claimant was entitled to indemnity benefits . The First District affirmed and noted that the nature of posttraumatic stress syndrome is that it occurs sometime after the traumatic event occurs .
In another example , in a case under the Defense Base Act ( Rodriguez v . Triple Canopy , BRB No . 20-0520 ( 5 / 27 / 2021 )), an Administrative Law Judge who found that the claim for PTSD was barred by the statute of limitations under that Act was reversed .
Rodriguez worked in Iraq from 2006 until 2010 , and in 2008 an explosion damaged his hearing and killed two people next to him , when a mortar attack hit his bunker and knocked him unconscious . He received some medical treatment , but kept working . He testified he had other adverse exposures in 2009 and developed bilateral hearing loss , vision problems and psychological symptoms . However , he first sought psychological care in October of 2016 and treatment for hearing loss in March of 2018 . He filed claims for both in March of 2018 . The Benefits Review Board reversed the denial of benefits based on the statute of limitations , holding that PTSD was an occupational injury in the case , and that the statute of limitations for an occupational injury under the Act is two years . Therefore , until Rodriguez had the opinion of the psychologist that he had PTSD on October 21 , 2016 , the two-year statute of limitations had not begun to run . n
Author : Anthony V . Cortese – Anthony V . Cortese at Law
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