Nebraska: Recreational Drug User Entitled to Inpatient Care to Treat Worsening Drug Problem Following Robbery and Work-Related Shooting

A retail employee, who was shot multiple times by assailants who had returned to the store in apparent retaliation for the employee’s reporting of an earlier robbery to police, and who developed PTSD as a result of the incident, was appropriately awarded medical and disability benefits for his PTSD condition, held the Supreme Court of Nebraska, but the employee was also entitled to inpatient care to treat a pre-existing non-prescription drug problem that the employee claimed had worsened due to his anxiety over the shooting.   Evidence suggested that even after the shooting, the assailants contacted the employee yet again, threatening the employee and his family.  The court held that the employee, who admitted he was a recreational drug user prior to the shooting, was entitled to additional benefits to treat his worsening addiction.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers’ compensation.

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Kim v. Gen-X Clothing, Inc., 287 Neb. 927, 2014 Neb. LEXIS 59 (Apr. 11, 2014) [2014 Neb. LEXIS 59 (Apr. 11, 2014)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 94.03 [94.03]

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see http://www.workcompwriter.com/nebraska-retail-worker-awarded-ttd-benefits-and-continued-medical-care-to-deal-with-ptsd-and-drug-dependency-following-work-related-shooting/

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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