Could Worker get Mental Health Benefits for Post-accident Depression, Anxiety?

What Do You Think?

Richmond, VA (WorkersCompensation.com). When an employee seeks mental health benefits under the workers’ compensation act following a physical injury at work, it’s worth considering whether the two injuries are genuinely connected. 

However, a case involving an employee who developed chronic pain and depression after an accident at work suggests when it may – or may not – be prudent to argue in court that the accident didn’t cause the employee’s mental health issues.

In that case, a university employee’s accident led to chronic pain that, she said, kept her from participating in activities because she was afraid the pain would get worse.

She had never had mental health treatment before or needed it. But when the pain treatments failed and she lost her job, her mental health deteriorated. Her primary doctor diagnosed her with unspecified depression and referred her to a therapist.

The therapist documented that the employee suffered from depressed mood, anxiety, crying spells, sleep and appetite disturbance, and lack of energy. She also documented that the symptoms were caused by her losing her job, a history of trauma, and the COVID pandemic.  Records from follow-up appointments continued to tie her depression to her pain and job loss. 

The workers’ compensation commission awarded her benefits for mental health treatment. The company challenged that award, arguing there was no medical evidence connecting her injury to her depression or anxiety.

To obtain workers’ compensation benefits for mental health treatment, an employee must show that her workplace injury caused the need for that treatment.

Did the employee show that her injury and mental health conditions were causally connected? Click an option to complete the quiz and find out the correct answer.

A. Yes. The evidence as a whole showed that the two were closely connected.

B. No. Her physician’s records did not actually link her depression to her pain.

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