This week, the Minnesota legislature issued a News Release announcing the introduction of a bill that could have major implications for Minnesota’s first responders who suffer from PTSD. Since October 1, 2013, the Minnesota workers’ compensation law has recognized post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a “covered” injury for purposes of workers’ compensation law. In the 2 ½ years since the law passed, in our practice, we have unfortunately seen some workers’ compensation insurers take a “full court press” approach to defending against these cases – many involving police officers, firefighters, and corrections officers. We have seen cases where a police officer clearly and obviously suffers from profound PTSD as the result of terrible trauma, and yet the workers’ compensation insurer denies that it was “traumatic enough” of an event, or hires an adverse doctor to offer an outrageous opinion that the person doesn’t have PTSD.

**As of January 1, 2019, a new law has gone into effect that may drastically change the way work-related PTSD claims are handled in Minnesota. For PTSD injuries that occur on or after January 1, 2019, there is now a presumption for first responders that their PTSD is work-related. Click here to learn more. **

At Meuser Law Office, P.A., we represent many Minnesota first responders, including firefighters, police officers, paramedics, and 911 dispatchers. Unfortunately, these people who protect the public in emergencies face both physical and mental dangers. As such, first responders experience a higher incidence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or (“PTSD”) as a result of the extreme, disturbing, and traumatic events they encounter on the job.