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A decision of Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board awarding death benefits to the surviving spouse and child of an employee who committed suicide was supported by substantial evidence in the record in spite of the fact that the...

By Rich Ehisen For years, America's "war on drugs" has inspired police and lawmakers to take a very tough minded, arrest-and-incarcerate approach to dealing with illicit drug use. But an alarming increase in heroin overdose deaths nationwide...

In McCool v. Monterey Bay Medicar , 2014 Cal. Wrk. Comp. P.D. LEXIS --, the WCAB panel rescinded the WCJ’s award of medical treatment in the form of Oxycontin, Norco and Lyrica to the applicant who sustained an industrial low back injury on 9/17...

In a memorandum decision, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed the denial of continued use of OxyContin to an injured worker who sustained a back injury in August 1992, yet who complained of continuing back pain 23 years later, at the...

NCCI Study Analyzes Medical Benefits Expenses Knowing that high prescription drug costs are a large component of the current challenges related to curbing workers’ compensation expenses is of limited value. Finding feasible methods to reduce...

This list of recent noteworthy cases was compiled by Keith J. Kasper of McCormick, Fitzpatrick, Kasper & Buchard, PC. VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF LABOR DECISIONS Nguyen v. Best Foods Baking Co. , Opinion No. 22-13WC (October 2, 2013) Claimant’s...

Can an insurer submit medication prescription requests to utilization review (UR) even where those medications have been repeatedly authorized before? That question has been hotly debated in California workers’ comp circles after a recent WCAB...

Roger Rabb, J.D., Special Correspondent for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter As physicians continue to prescribe opioids such as Vicodin, OxyContin, and codeine to help patients with chronic pain, there is a growing concern that...

Increased Utilization of Predominantly Expensive Drugs Fuel Cost Rise An August 2011 research brief by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc. (NCCI) analyzed the trend of prescription drugs constituting a disproportionately high percentage...

By Stuart Colburn, Esq., Downs Stanford, P.C. A November 2011 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report describes prescription painkiller abuse as “a public health epidemic.” The CDC concludes that “improving the way...

By Stuart Colburn, Esq. This is the third part of a three-part series on prescription drug abuse in America. Part One explained “the problem”. Part Two identified the stakeholders involved with this epidemic. Part Three below discusses...

By John Stahl, Esq. Whether proof that a workers’ compensation claimant ingested marijuana or another illegal substance within a relevant period before sustaining otherwise compensable harm justified denying workers’ compensation benefits...

By Stuart Colburn, Esq. This is the second part of a three-part series on prescription drug abuse in America. Part One explained “the problem ”. Part Two below identifies the “P” stakeholders involved with this epidemic: ...

By John Stahl, Esq. A May 2012 report from the National Council on Compensation Insurance Holdings, Inc. , (NCCI) addressed the conclusions of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) that “the overuse of opioid...

It may be an unfortunate reality but narcotics are a common aspect of medical treatment within the workers’ compensation system. As pain is an extremely individual experience, it is difficult if not impossible to assess whether the medications prescribed...