The Supreme Court of Minnesota held that an injured worker had failed to establish that his long-term use of Endocet—an opioid—was in line with long-term treatment parameters established pursuant to Minn. R. 5221.6110 (2019). Accordingly, his continued...
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 suicide appeared to...
The Supreme Court of Kansas agreed that the widow of a worker who sustained fatal injuries in a fall at work rebutted the presumption of intoxication afforded the employer where two drug tests showed the presence of marijuana in the worker's system, but other...
A decision by the New York Board that directed an injured worker to begin a weaning process from his long-term opioid prescription treatment program was supported by substantial evidence, held a state appellate court. The worker’s claim was established for an occupational...
An Arkansas appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission that a worker who suffered a partial traumatic amputation of a finger as she tried to dislodge material from a jammed cutting machine, and who subsequently tested positive...
Where an injured Nebraska employee relocated to Florida and there sought long-term opioid medications, combined with benzodiazepines, and muscle relaxants that had been prescribed by a Florida physician, the employer was not required to pay for the treatment since...
A widow’s wrongful death action filed against her deceased husband’s employer for its failure to implement and maintain a substance abuse policy is barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the Ohio Workers’ Compensation Act, held a state appellate...
Reiterating that in Kansas, because of multiple concerns, the rules of evidence do not apply to workers’ compensation hearings, a Kansas appellate court held the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board should not have excluded the results of a marijuana...
A study to be published by the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine supports the widely-held — although not thoroughly documented — notion that pre-injury opioid and benzodiazepine use may increase the risk and cost of disability after a work-related...
A recent webinar discussed one approach to reducing reliance on dangerous opioids for pain management By Roger Rabb, J.D. The opioid epidemic is perhaps the biggest health crisis facing the U.S today, as an estimated 115 Americans die from an opioid overdose...
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 time of...
A recent study published by Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) argues that there is indeed a causal relationship between the practice of providing extensive opioid prescriptions to an injured worker and the duration of that workers’ temporary...
Concomitant Benzodiazepine-Opioid Use Increases Risks of Adverse Outcomes Adding additional strength to the swell of medical research warning us about the dangers of combining opioid and benzodiazepine medications, a recent study published by the International...
Oakland–Opioids remain the most common type of prescription drug used to treat California injured workers with lost-time injuries, but sustained efforts to curb their use are paying off as new data show that in the past decade they fell from about a third of indemnity...
Building on prior research, a recent study sponsored in part by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) identifies eight models that demonstrate the interrelationships among occupational...