Some PTSD sufferers still have to fight to get benefits
Sgt. Casey Ward recalls being present when the province announced a change to the Workers’ Compensation Act, clearing an easier path for workers suffering from psychological injuries like PTSD.
“It was probably one of the happiest moments of my career,” said Ward, president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Police Officers.
The 2016 amendment means it’s now presumed — unless proven otherwise — the applicant worker received the diagnosed injury in the course of their employment.
But while the section exists, it hasn’t been a smooth transition.
“We started seeing problem after problem with it,” Ward said.
Likely the biggest problem for officers needing compensation for occupational stress injuries (OSIS), such as PTSD, is what’s proved to be a doubling, or even tripling, up of assessments due to the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) ordering its own.
“It wasn’t truly presumptive because our members continually had to go back and see other doctors and get re-diagnosed, and that was causing our members angst,” Ward said.
According to the WCB’S recently released 2019 annual report, a specialized unit was established last year to focus on “adjudicating and managing psychological injury claims.”
Messages left for a representative of the WCB this week were not returned.
Issues with the administration of the section came to the forefront recently in a Court of Queen’s Bench decision overturning a WCB tribunal finding.
While a WCB appeals officer initially found in favour of an Estevan Police Service member diagnosed with PTSD, a WCB tribunal reversed that decision.
Queen’s Bench Justice Richard Elson had strong words for the WCB, finding the tribunal had ignored the presumptive legislation in coming to its decision.
“The evidence unequivocally established the diagnosis of the applicant’s PTSD, a diagnosis made by a psychiatrist and confirmed by two psychologists …,” Elson wrote.
“No meaningful challenge could be asserted by persons who lacked the necessary psychiatric or psychological qualifications. It was certainly incapable of contradiction by the representatives of the EPS or the members of the Tribunal.”
In the end, the Estevan member, a longtime forensic examination technician who’d responded to multiple traumatic scenes, including those involving children and people he knew personally, was assessed on three separate occasions.
One of the assessors was a Wcb-appointed psychologist brought in despite existing diagnoses by two mental health professionals. The WCB psychologist ultimately backed the previous findings.
Ward said the WCB’S practice of having its own assessor examine already-diagnosed claimants causes unnecessary hardship for those suffering OSIS and can even set them back in their healing.
“It’s actually quite tough to get DSM-5 and PTSD diagnoses, and now they’re going to say, ‘We want you to see our doctor,’ ” Ward said. “Now our members are starting basically from scratch.”
Ward said by the time members are assessed by a WCB psychologist, it’s often months or more since the trauma-inducing events occurred.
By then, impacted members have often learned to trust their primary psychologist or psychiatrist and are making positive steps forward.
“A lot of times, they’ve actually started to get better and made some really, really good progress,” he said. “And now, they’re going back to Day 1 and having to relive all those moments again.”
Regina Professional Fire Fighters Association president Tyler Packham said his association works hard to break down stigma to ensure members know they can seek help when needed.
He said once a member recognizes they need help, it has to come quick, something not always possible under the current setup.
He agreed it can be hard for members to be required to go through the assessment process all over again.
“It’s tricky, and when you’re already in a tough space mentally and have that pressure on top as well, it’s bad,” he said.
Ward said ensuring first responders are looked after fairly and quickly on diagnosed psychological issues means they can get back to doing their jobs a lot faster and therefore won’t need to rely as much on compensation.
“Our members love the job they do and they want to be here doing it,” he said.
Both Packham and Ward said their associations have been in talks with the WCB on this issue and are hopeful regarding the conversations they’ve had to date.
“They were great in getting our opinion on what is working, what isn’t working, and they’re telling us they’re willing to make change and they want to make some change,” Ward said. “And with the court case, we’re really hoping that also does show them that change needs to be done.”