A decision denying death benefits to the surviving spouse of a New Hampshire worker who died from an overdose of oxycodone and heroin was affirmed by the state’s Supreme Court. The worker, who suffered a serious ankle fracture as a result of a work-related...
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...
In an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina affirmed an award, inter alia, of death benefits to dependents of an injured employee who suffered a compensable back injury in June 2010 and died some four years later, as a result of an accidental...
Key takeaways from a recent Tennessee case for both injured workers and employers When do an injured worker’s actions, which led to a tragic overdose of opioids in the Kilburn case, constitute an independent intervening cause and thereby release the employer...
A New Report Looks at the Early Data in 25 States to See How Opioid Abuse Reform Efforts are Faring in Workers' Compensation Claims In light of the epidemic in deaths caused by prescription opioid overdoses and abuse building since at least the 1990s, reforms...
Fatal Overdoses Increased Five-Fold from 1996 to 2013 According to a study recently published in the American Journal of Public Health [ See Bachhuber, Marcus A., MD, MSHP, et al., “ Increasing Benzodiazepine Prescriptions and Overdose Mortality in the United...
By Robert G. Rassp, Esq. Marijuana is used medicinally or recreationally once a year by at least 128 million people in the world since 2012 according to global epidemiology studies. Growing up in California means easy access to marijuana from elementary school...
Two new studies published by Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) show that on average three out of four injured workers in the United States receive opioid prescriptions for pain relief following workplace injuries and that generally, even when...
A report from the California Workers’ Compensation & Risk Conference, Sept. 10-12, 2014, Dana Point, CA By David Bryan Leonard, Esq. Without pause, Christine Baker, Director of the California Department of Industrial Relations, took the stage immediately...
Over the past two decades, prescription drug abuse has been on the rise. The public health dangers associated with this disturbing trend are self-evident. In an ongoing effort to curb this abuse, most states have over the years adopted some form of electronic prescription...
Despite efforts to curb the use and cost of opioids in California workers’ comp, new CWCI research finds the use of these drugs has remained at record levels since 2010, that virtually the same 3% of high-volume Schedule II opioid prescribing doctors continue...
Far too often we hear about pill mill doctors who are shut down or even arrested. Rachel Aviv’s article “ Prescription for Disaster ” ( The New Yorker , May 5, 2014) (subscription only) provides insight into the disturbing details of what led...
A Kansas appellate court held that the state’s statutory provision barring workers’ compensation benefits to “impaired” workers, K.S.A. 2010 Supp. 44-501(d)(2), requires the employer to prove the worker was impaired at the time of the injury...
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...
Money Can’t Buy Happiness, But It May Help You Live Longer The panoply of interrelated research on longevity appears to be coalescing around a consensus that socioeconomic status (“SES”) is an important indicator of life expectancy. Data suggests...