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Public safety officer due workers comp benefit for post-Katrina PTSD

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Public safety officer due workers comp benefit for post-Katrina PTSD

A Mississippi public safety officer should receive workers compensation benefits for the post-traumatic stress disorder she suffered after aiding in Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, a Mississippi appellate court has ruled.

Elisha Adcox worked as a contract agent with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety's Bureau of Narcotics. Her job included “undercover operations, the execution of search warrants, participation in drug raids, making arrests and testifying in court,” according to court records.

Ms. Adcox received two weeks of treatment for PTSD after her partner was shot during a raid in 1990, and she returned to full duty afterward, records show.

In 2005, Ms. Adcox was assigned along with other agents to assist in Katrina relief efforts on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, records show. Her duties included providing security against looters, searching for and rescuing survivors, and recovering bodies after the massive storm.

In 2006, Ms. Adcox said the Katrina experience caused her to have panic attacks and suffer flashbacks of “death and bodies,” records show. She soon began treatment at a mental health center, and was diagnosed with PTSD.

Ms. Adcox filed for workers comp benefits in 2006, saying she suffered from depression and PTSD, as well as a worsening of a prior neck injury. The Mississippi narcotics bureau denied Ms. Adcox's claim after an employer-selected doctor determined that she did not have PTSD.

However, an administrative law judge awarded permanent total disability benefits for Ms. Adcox's PTSD claim, but denied her claim for neck pain and related headaches, records show.

The Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission and a Hinds County, Miss., circuit judge affirmed the administrative law judge's ruling. The narcotics bureau appealed.

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In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of the Mississippi Court of Appeals on Jan. 28 affirmed the lower court rulings. Under Mississippi workers comp law, workers with mental injury claims “must show (that) something more than the ordinary incidents of employment occurred” to cause the injury, the court ruling reads.

The majority found that Ms. Adcox dealt with grim circumstances while working during Katrina recovery efforts, and she proved her PTSD was work-related.

Ms. Adcox “was surrounded by the smell of death and dead bodies” during the Katrina recovery efforts, the majority opinion reads. “Adcox stated she personally observed many dead bodies and, on one occasion, while climbing through the window of a house, stepped on a dead body.”

In a dissent, Justice Virginia Carlton said Ms. Adcox did not meet the standard to prove her Katrina work went above and beyond the “ordinary incidents of employment” to cause her PTSD.

“Along with a team of other (narcotic bureau) agents, Adcox assisted in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,” wrote Justice Carlton, who would have reversed Ms. Adcox's benefit award. “She therefore helped after the life-threatening risk of Hurricane Katrina had ended. She did not suffer a direct threat to herself, a loved one or a close associate in that effort as required for the diagnosis of PTSD.”