DISASTER SCENE HERO SNUB
First on site of Dreamworld horrors in a payout battle
ONE of the first Dreamworld staff on the horrific scene of the Thunder River Rapids ride tragedy is not just fighting mental scars but with an insurance giant for a disability payout.
Medic Shane Green was the Gold Coast theme park’s first aid boss in 2016 when four visitors – Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, Roozi Araghi and Cindy Low – were killed.
He desperately tried to save them but says it was like a “disaster movie” and he now struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and lives as a virtual recluse, constantly reliving the fateful day.
His legal team have been told CommInsure intends to reject his claim for a total and permanent disability payout because he went back to work straight after the fatalities. “I should be disgusted but I don’t have the energy. I didn’t want to just sit around on welfare so I went back to work, but I should never have been there.”
A DREAMWORLD medic who dived into the water to save lives during the Thunder River Rapids disaster is facing a snub by an insurance giant as he battles severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
Shane Green, a decorated former police officer and paramedic, now lives as a virtual recluse in the Victorian Alps and struggles to get out of bed as he constantly relives the horror of that fateful day.
However, CommInsure says Mr Green, who gave harrowing evidence at the Dreamworld inquest, may be ineligible for a total and permanent disability payout after he tried to go back to work following the tragedy.
Mr Green’s legal team at Shine Lawyers have received CommInsure’s intention to reject the TPD claim and are already planning an appeal.
CommInsure says the case is still under consideration.
Mr Green said he should be disgusted by the decision “but I don’t have the energy”.
After earlier careers as a police officer and paramedic, Mr Green was Dreamworld’s first aid manager in October 2016 when Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, Roozi Araghi and Cindy Low died in the Thunder River Rapids tragedy.
Arriving at the scene to see a colleague dragging someone from the water, Mr Green dived in, desperately searching for survivors.
“It was such chaos,” he said. “People were yelling and screaming, it was really like something out of a disaster movie.”
He said he went into “autopilot” during the ordeal, even returning to work the next day, but gradually the burden of what he had been through became too great to bear.
“You might go a while without thinking about it but then it will all come back and hit you like a brick,” he said.
“I’m just not the same person I was. I used to be extremely social and go out three or four times a week, I used to run ultra-marathons, but now there’s no motivation to even get out the door.
“I’ve got anxiety, I’ve been diagnosed with PTSD. I struggle with everyday things.”
After leaving Dreamworld, he retreated to a shack near Mount Buller in Victoria where he eventually found work as a safety officer on a building project.
“I was trying but I knew something wasn’t right,” he said.
“I wasn’t sleeping, I was always anxious. I asked to go part-time and then I eventually stopped working altogether.”
Ironically his attempt to rejoin the workforce could now stand in the way of a compensation payout.
“I didn’t want to just sit around on welfare so I went back to work, but I should never have been there,” he said.
“It’s really sad (that CommInsure
is disputing his claim). I should be disgusted but I don’t even have the energy.”
Shine Lawyers insurance expert Melissa O’Neill said Mr Green “absolutely” deserved a TPD payment.
“The simple fact … is he was doing his job when he was called to one of the country’s most harrowing scenes,” she said.
“He didn’t just see the devastation from a distance, he was in among the accident scene trying against the odds to save lives.
“CommInsure has rejected
Shane’s TPD claim on the grounds that he still had capacity to work following the incident because he took on another role.”
In correspondence to Shine, CommInsure wrote that it believed Mr Green may not be eligible for a TPD benefit as he was not covered when he ceased working for (the firm he joined after leaving Dreamworld)”.
A spokesperson said the claim was still under assessment. “We would welcome any further information that will assist with our assessment,” the spokesperson said.