Forward by Ron Meuser, Jr.

Jen Yackley & I originally met with Dana (who wrote the story below), her husband Ed & his service dog Rex to hear their story and learn how I can help. They founded an organization called Solder’s 6 whose mission is to provide honorably discharged veterans, police officers, and firefighters with specially trained K-9 dogs. The support they provide these brave individuals is nothing short of amazing and, unfortunately, very needed. We hear from our police officer & firefighter clients with PTSD that the suffering doesn’t end when the job is over and many don’t want the job to end. Dana and Ed’s story is very real, heartbreaking, and a reminder that we must be continuously supportive in any way we can.  Please join Meuser, Yackley & Rowland, P.A. in supporting this worthy organization by going to https://www.soldiers6.com/how-can-i-help.

There are many differences between physical injuries and mental injuries. This article discusses what you need to know if you have a work-related mental health injury.

What Mental Health Injuries Are Compensable Under the Workers’ Compensation Act?

As many of you are aware, Meuser, Yackley & Rowland, P.A. is responsible for representing literally hundreds of individuals who have suffered from the effects of PTSD, more commonly known as post-traumatic stress disorder. Quite frequently, those individuals will come from professions such as police and fire, but more and more we are seeing those who are coming from the emergency medical service areas. Those individuals, such as paramedics, emergency medical technicians, dispatchers, and others who are directly involved with traumatic events but may not necessarily come to mind as those who can or would be exposed to trauma leading to PTSD. Today I want to talk about those individuals, because those individuals and their injuries and conditions are just as serious and important as those of the other first responders such as police and fire.

On January 1, 2019, a new law went into effect that may drastically change the way work-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) claims are handled in Minnesota. For PTSD injuries that occur on or after January 1, 2019, there is a presumption for first responders that their PTSD is work-related.