Most employees know that workers’ compensation benefits help cover medical expenses and a portion of their lost wages when they are injured on the job. However, some workers mistakenly limit their view to purely physical injuries, such as burns, broken bones, and amputations.
Can workers in North Carolina qualify for workers’ compensation benefits if their injury is invisible, like post-traumatic stress disorder or another serious mental health injury?
PTSD is a mental health condition that presents troubling symptoms in response to witnessing a frightening or traumatic event. Some mental health conditions, like PTSD, can qualify an individual for workers’ compensation benefits in North Carolina. However, proving a verifiable link between a traumatic workplace event and the diagnosis is critical and can be challenging without experienced legal help.
Do You Qualify for a Workers’ Comp Payout for PTSD?
Workers in North Carolina may be eligible for PTSD workers’ compensation benefits if their diagnosis can be directly linked to a workplace accident or traumatic event on the job. Typically, the worker must also demonstrate that, as a characteristic of their employment, they are exposed to a greater risk of developing PTSD than someone from the general public.
Medical documentation is essential to prove a valid PTSD diagnosis and demonstrate a causal link between a person’s job and their current mental disorders. For example, a factory or construction worker who witnesses an incident that causes a gory or fatal workplace accident could be eligible for benefits. Doctors, nurses, or emergency responders whose work puts them on the front lines of horrific accident scenes or catastrophic injuries to children may also suffer the work-related effects of PTSD.
The workers’ compensation benefits available to individuals suffering from work-related mental stress injuries, such as PTSD, depend on the individual’s condition and prognosis. Still, they may include compensation for medical expenses and replacement of a portion of lost wages.
Challenges in PTSD Workers’ Comp Claims
One of the most significant challenges workers face when applying for workers’ compensation benefits is proving that a PTSD diagnosis is connected to a work-related incident. Without sufficient medical evidence and extensive documentation, most PTSD workers’ compensation claims are denied.
Insurers often argue that mental health issues are the result of a pre-existing condition or other non-work-related cause. They may also attempt to claim that an individual’s symptoms related to PTSD or a mental health condition are not debilitating or do not prevent them from returning to work. Therefore, the condition is not significant enough to warrant benefits.
You need an assertive workers’ compensation attorney from Kornbluth Ginsberg Law Group, P.A., to help you fight back against the insurance company’s efforts to deny the benefits you deserve for your work-related mental injury.
Talk to Kornbluth Ginsberg Law Group, P.A., About Your PTSD Workers’ Comp Claim
Proving psychological injuries like post-traumatic stress disorder and its effects on a person’s quality of life takes tenacity and substantial medical evidence and documentation. Someone suffering from the detrimental impact of PTSD, nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, and other symptoms of the condition likely cannot mount a compelling workers’ comp claim on their own.
The team at Kornbluth Ginsberg Law Group, P.A., is known for delivering results in North Carolina workers’ compensation cases. Let us work hard to pursue the maximum PTSD workers’ compensation settlement available in your case so you can focus on your mental health.
Contact us today or call us 24/7 at 919-980-9895 for a free consultation about your potential PTSD claim with an experienced workers’ compensation attorney. We have an office conveniently located at 3400 Croasdaile Drive, Suite 300. Durham, NC. We are ready to help you understand your legal options.
