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| | Idaho Supreme Court Affirms Idaho Industrial Commission. Thus Rejects Claimant's Psyche Claim For PTSD
By Lonce LaMon - May 1, 2013
A cook who filed a workers’ compensation claim in 2005 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, for a severe burn he suffered on his arm by falling into a deep fat fryer on the job, has now had his 2007 claim seeking psychological treatment alleging Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a consequence of that accident, rejected by the Idaho Supreme Court. A unanimous decision written by Justice Warren Jones stated the worker didn’t prove his psychological trauma was caused predominantly by the accident because he’d had significant other stresses in his life.
Matthew Mazzone, 36, worked at a Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Idaho Falls. On November 13th 2005, he tripped in the kitchen and fell into a 360-degree deep fat fryer. The result was a severe burn on his right arm.
The Idaho Supreme Court sided with the Idaho Industrial Commission stating its rejection of Mazzone’s claim of a compensable psychological injury was supported by “substantial and competent evidence”. The Idaho Industrial Commission asserted Mazzone had psychological disorders before his November 2005 work place accident. It stated the claimant required psyche treatment after his first child was still-born and he broke up with his girlfriend in 2002.
The Justice wrote, “The Commission properly concluded that Mazzone failed to demonstrate that his industrial accident was the predominant cause of his alleged PTSD or psychological condition. By Mazzone’s own account, he suffered certain stressors earlier in life.”
The Supreme Court writing expressed also that the claimant had had a positive post-incident recovery. It remarked there were many other stressors in the claimant’s life before and after the accident that gave evidence to support the Idaho Industrial Commission’s determination the predominant cause of the claimant’s condition was not the industrial accident.
The language in the psyche claim reeks of boiler plate applicant’s attorney abuses of businesses and their workers’ compensation insurance. It asserted the claimant had ongoing symptoms that started with his burn, which included nightmares, crying spells, mood instability, anxiety, flashbacks, intrusive memories, sleep problems, and hypersensitivity. He attributed his sleep problems to the accident.
Here is the classic sleep-disorder claim that has come out of umpteen applicants’ attorneys who have used claimants for their own gain with this sleep-disorder-psyche disability issue since the passage of SB 863 in California put a stop to it. It looks like Idaho is getting wise and disallowing it, as well, with this decision from its Supreme Court.
The court documents went on with the testimony that the claimant was “in so much pain after burning his arm that he simply crawled under the kitchen sink and cried.”
He was treated at a burn unit in Salt Lake City where he underwent surgery. By February of 2006, his surgeon released him to return to work again and advised he use a glove as needed to protect his injured hand.
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