South Dakota joins PTSD legislation wave
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The second state in a week to see a bill that would provide workers compensation benefits to first responders diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, lawmakers in South Dakota on Wednesday unveiled their own legislation.
So far in January, lawmakers in at least seven states have proposed PTSD legislation for consideration in 2020. Insurance industry experts have said they expect the trend to continue.
South Dakota’s H.B. 1142 would apply to law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical responders, and, not always included in similar legislation, emergency dispatchers.
It states that there must be “clear and convincing evidence to demonstrate that the disorder was acquired as a result of trauma experienced within the scope of the person's employment,” requiring that the trauma results from “an exposure to another's grievous injury or death.”
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