Does Workers’ Compensation Cover Non-Work Related Injuries that Result From a Work-Related-Injury

By Richard Hyman

Yellin & Hyman, PC
Franklin, MA

Hyde Park, MA

It is easy to understand how an employee would be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits for an injury received at work. If the employee’s back is injured from a heavy lifting incident or if a bone is broken due to a fall off of a ladder, clearly that injured worker should expect to be paid workers’ compensation benefits. But what if that employee then suffers another injury, either physical or mental, that did not occur on the job but was related in some way to the original injury?

Relating a Subsequent Injury to The One that Occurred at Work

As long as there is a connection between the original work injury and a subsequent, different medical condition, all matters concerning that condition (such as medical treatment, entitlement to disability benefits) should also be covered under workers’ compensation. Examples are injuring your back due to a fall which resulted from a bad knee that was injured at work; getting an infection due to a surgical procedure to repair a work-related injury; and needing treatment for addiction to pain medication that was prescribed following a back injury at work.

As another example, Yellin & Hyman, PC had a client who was receiving pool therapy following neck surgery that resulted from an accident at work. During one of her pool therapy sessions, she injured her shoulder while attempting to get out of the pool. 

Yellin & Hyman, PC filed a claim for her shoulder injury and, because the injury to her shoulder occurred as a direct result of her getting treatment for the work-related neck injury, the judge at the Department of Industrial Accidents ordered that the workers’ compensation insurance company was now also responsible for her treatment and any disability resulting from her shoulder injury.

A Mental Condition Resulting From A Physical Injury

It is fairly common that someone who has been out of work for an extended time may develop depression and anxiety due to being in chronic pain, having concerns about finances and uncertainty about the future. If it can be established that this mental condition resulted from the physical injury that happened at work, then the workers’ compensation insurance company would also be responsible for that mental condition.  This could mean paying for prescription drugs and counseling sessions as well as disability payments if the depression and/or anxiety are serious enough to cause mental impairments that interfere with the ability to perform work duties.

What is and what is not a workers’ compensation injury can sometimes be difficult to determine, and is even more so when the injury did not occur at work but has a relationship to the injury that did occur at work. It is always wise to have an experienced workers’ compensation attorney at your side to help guide you through your workers’ compensation claim.

Yellin & Hyman, PC handles all types of matters relating to Workers’ Compensation, Social Security Disability and Personal Injury claims.

Yellin & Hyman, PC

www.yellin-hyman.com

1259 Hyde Park Avenue                    693 E. Central Street

Suite 128                                             Suite 201

Hyde Park, MA 02136                       Franklin, MA 02038

(617) 361-5310                                   (508) 528-8885