Her body's betrayals, in her 45 years, range from asthma to infertility, from miscarried quadruplets to malformed organs. She wears a scar across her throat like a necklace that binds her to others who have had thyroid tumors removed.  

 During the period 1992-99, there were on average more than 21 fatal and more than 11,000 nonfatal workplace amputations annually. Fifty-three pe...

Although the road to compensating the victims of September 11, 2001, and their families has been paved with the best of intentions, the response to the economic impact of the attacks has as yet been disorganized. The outpouring of charitable contributions has led to front-page battles over their administration, and the federal compensation program has been subject to similar criticism from the very people it is intended to serve. 

 ASBESTOS CONGRESS POSTPONES ACTION ON ASBETSOS COMPENSATION BILL FOR AT LEAST 4 MONTHS As the Senate rushed toward its holiday adjournment, ...

The Social Security/Medicare program had its genesis in President Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal" policies. During the succeeding Democratic administrations of Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson, it was developed into the "Great Society" approach, providing a social insurance program intended to operate not as welfare but as earned benefits. With the increasing focus on promptly providing necessary medical treatment to citizens, the Federal government's role of providing conditional payments has expanded, at tremendous cost.

If we are bringing justice to the terrorists of Afghanistan, why can't we bring justice to our heroes, the victims and their families of the September 11th tragedy? Why didn't our heroes receive adequate workers' compensation benefits in the first place?

 The Federal Government continues to struggle with the need to share data from workers' compensation (WC) programs an effort to reduce payment errors. While both systems provide benefits to injured workers, the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) reported, in a May 2001 study, that the lack of a uniform and consistent method to collect data on a national level has led to irregularities in the delivery of Federal benefits. 

 First-Time Information About Exposure Levels for the U.S. Population 

 How the Civil Justice System Uncovered the Truth for Consumers  Before journalists wrote about it, before NHTSA investigated it, before ...

Opponents Seek Repeal of OSHA Ergonomics Standard. After ten long years of struggle, workers in this country finally won protections to prevent crippling repetitive strain injuries, the nation's biggest job safety problem. OSHA's new ergonomics standard was issued in November 2000 and went into effect on January 16, 2001. But with Republicans controlling Congress and the White House, this new worker protection measure is in danger, as opponents aim to repeal this important standard. 

A Nebraska workers' compensation judge awarded total disability benefits to a registered nurse as a result of her latex sensitivity. In determining the injured worker's disability, the Court evaluated not only her physical symptoms, but also took into consideration her psychological stress factors and declared her totally disabled from a psychiatric standpoint.

Mysterious skin rashes, watery eyes and laryngitis attacked Susan Sharrock in 1990.  She found the answer to her ailments in the palms of her ...

The Nebraska workers' compensation court has followed the theory adopted by a majority of jurisdictions in the United States and has accepted the single reaction theory of compensability for latex allergy claims. Even though a latex sensitized nurse worked for a subsequent employer and developed subsequent allergic reactions, the Nebraska court held that a single incident of an exposure with resulting symptomatology many years earlier requiring medical treatment was an incident for which compensability could be attributed. In following this position and rejecting "the last injurious rule" theory, Nebraska has simplified the procedure to obtain workers' compensation benefits and avoided complex and expensive litigation requiring multiple parties to appear in order to apportion liability.  

In one of the most significant decisions yet to be rendered by a Court, a surgical registered nurse was declared to be totally and permanently disable...

 Workers’ compensation courts are now requiring employers to act swiftly in awarding benefits to workers who have been sensitized to latex products. 

A nurse who was exposed to latex gloves at a New Jersey nursing home has been awarded a Court-approved settlement for continuing medical treatment and medications.  

A Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court has ordered that a personal computer system be furnished to a homebound former health care worker suffering from latex sensitivity. This ruling is consistent with a national trend by the courts toward the recognition of the catastrophic impact of latex allergy upon general life pursuits. 

The statutory formula for compensability for occupational disease is similar to that for accidental injuries, that is, “compensation for personal injuries to or for death of such employee by any “compensable” occupational disease arising out of and in the course of the employment” Section 30. There appears to me to be three essential elements of Section 30. There must be an injury or death – due to a “compensable” occupational disease – which must arise out of and in the course of the employment. There is an exception for willful self-exposure but that exception has never been established, to my knowledge, so it is not that important.  

Delaware has always been known to be a corporate-friendly state, and a recent opinion in a latex claim continues to reflect that bias. The Superior Court of Delaware's ruling affirming the Industrial Accident Board's denial of benefits to a tire worker, who had been diagnosed with a latex allergy, reflects an archaic application of the rules of evidence that is inconsistent with current legal thinking. Richard Smith was employed on May 12, 1997 as a tire repairman by Service Tire Truck Center, Inc. 

The rules governing when a claim must be filed as a result of an occupational exposure to asbestos have been changed by the New Jersey Supreme Court. A signed and sworn workers’ compensation claim petition, even though unsupported by medical diagnosis, is sufficient to impute discovery of the existence of a claim and toll the statute of limitations.