New DSM Criteria Manual Challenged by Expert for Lack of Validity

Setting standards for the assessment of psychiatric criteria in workers' compensation claims has been a major challenge. Subjective criteria has been difficult for the experts, evaluators and courts to yield an objective analysis.

With a new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or

D.S.M., to be published a new challenge to the assessment tool has been made.

"Just weeks before the long-awaited publication of a new edition of the so-called bible of mental disorders, the federal government’s most prominent psychiatric expert has said the book suffers from a scientific 'lack of validity.'"

Read the complete article "Psychiatry’s Guide Is Out of Touch With Science, Experts Say" NY Times

Survivors of COVID-19 appear to be at increased risk of psychiatric sequelae

A recent study concludes that survivors of COVID-19 appear to be at increased risk of psychiatric sequelae. This reports reflects the potential for an increased surge of workers’ compensation claims attributed to exposure to coronavirus in the workplace.

Neurological symptoms like fatigue common in mild COVID

Neurological and psychiatric symptoms such as fatigue and depression are common among people with Covid-19 and maybe just as likely in people with mild cases, according to a new review study led by a UCL researcher.

Invisible Wounds, Visible Costs

The ILO’s 2026 SafeDay Report and What It Means for Workers’ Compensation

Urgent Care Centers Opening For People With Mental lllness

Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org

Hoping to keep more people with mental illness out of jails and emergency rooms, county health officials opened a mental health urgent care center Wednesday in South Los Angeles.

The goal of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Mental Health Urgent Care Center is to stabilize and treat people in immediate crisis while connecting them to ongoing care. Run by Exodus Recovery, it will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and can serve up to 16 adults and six adolescents. During their stay of up to one day, patients will undergo a psychiatric evaluation, receive on-the-spot care such as counseling and medication and be referred for longer-term treatment.

The center can take people in severe crisis and expects many will be brought in by police and paramedics, said Connie Dinh, vice president of nursing services for Exodus. But she said it cannot accept people who are incoherent, extremely aggressive or need emergency medical attention. They will still need to be treated at hospitals or inpatient psychiatric facilities.

Staff will be able to place people on 72-hour psychiatric holds if they are a danger to themselves or others.

Mental health urgent care centers, also known as crisis stabilization units, are opening throughout California in response to the shortage of psychiatric beds and the increase in patients with mental illnesses showing up at hospital emergency rooms with nowhere else to go,...


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Credibility is Essential Where Superseding Intervening Events Exist - Unpublished Opinion

Credible evidence is essential in the proof of a workers’ compensation case. To prove a case at trial the parties must offer credible evidence to the trier of the facts, especially where there appears to be a laundry list of intervening and superseding events since the time of the accident at work.

Current Landscape of PTSD Claims

As of 2026, the workers' compensation landscape for mental health injuries has transformed dramatically:

Workplace Stress Kills Workers

The International Labour Organization's landmark 2026 Global Report, The Psychosocial Working Environment: Global Developments and Pathways for Action, delivers a sober verdict: workplace stress is not merely an inconvenience; it is a global killer. For workers' compensation practitioners in New Jersey and across the United States, this report carries profound implications. It quantifies what many attorneys and physicians have long argued: that the psychosocial conditions of work — job strain, overwork, harassment, and insecurity — are primary drivers of cardiovascular disease, mental health disorders, and even suicide.

The ILO's new global estimates, published here for the first time, are staggering in scope and sobering in implication. They demand a reevaluation of how workers' compensation law responds to stress-induced illness and death in the workplace.

Getting Tattoos Evidences Total Disability

An injured worker, who obtained tattoos to camouflage surgical scars of 6 surgical interventions, was held to be totally and permanently disabled. The evidence, presented at the time of trial, was found by the Judge of Compensation to provide a basis for an increase in the worker’s psychiatric disability that rendered the employee unable to work.

The worker testified that the side effects of a laundry list of medications that manifested low stamina and dry eyes. The drugs included:

• Buspar, an anti-anxiety medication, three times a day
• Nortiptyline, and anti-pain and antidepressant medication, three times a day
• Oxycontin, a pain medication, four times a day
• Topomax, a seizure medication used for pain relief, twice a day
• Methodone, a pain medication, four times a day
• Wellbutrin, an antidepressant, two to three times a day
• Bethanechol, a medication for dry mouth
• Prevacid, a stomach medication

The appellate forum affirmed the decision of the trial judge, Stephen Tuber, who in an extensive written decision  rejected the opinions of the respondent’s medical experts, Drs. Galina and Effron in favor of that of the petitioner’s expert, Dr. Peter Crain.

Dr. Crain testified that the reason why the injured worker obtained the tattoos made “psychological sense.” The reviewing form held that “…She explained that she obtained tattoos to help her deal with her "suicidal ideation" and to camouflage the scars she bore from the multiple operations.”

Kiessling v. Prudential Insurance Company, NO. A-3051-08T23051-08T2,  2010 WL 1928711 (Decided May 10, 2010)

To read more about psychiatric disability and workers' compensation click here.

Click here for more information on how Jon L Gelman can assist you in a claim for workers' Compensation claim benefits.

NJ vaccine mandate imposed for Health Care Workers and others

NJ Governor Phil Murphy signed Executive Order No. 283, requiring covered workers at health care facilities and high-risk congregate settings to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations, including having received a booster dose. All covered workers will be required to be vaccinated by the dates set forth in the Order and will no longer be permitted to submit to testing as an alternative to vaccination, except for the purposes of providing accommodation for individuals exempt from vaccination as set forth in the covered setting’s vaccination policy. This requirement aims to strengthen protections against the spread of COVID-19 and the highly transmissible Omicron variant to vulnerable populations across the state.

U.S. Department of Transportation Announces Final Rule on Traveling by Air with Service Animals

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced that it is revising its Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) regulation on the transportation of service animals by air to ensure a safe and accessible air transportation system.  The final rule on Traveling by Air with Service Animals can be found HERE.

Searching for Vaccine in NJ

NJ Commissioner of Health Judith Persichilli COVID-19 provided a status report yesterday on the status of vaccine distribution in NJ. 

Single Payer’s Workers’ Compensation Gamble

For more than a decade, this blog has tracked what I have called “The Path to Federalization,” the steady, incremental expansion of federal authority over what was once an exclusively state-run workers’ compensation system. From the World Trade Center Health Program in 2010 to the Affordable Care Act’s Libby Care pilot, from Supreme Court validation of the individual mandate in 2012 to the Medicare Secondary Payer offset debate, each chapter has added a new stone to that path. California’s 2026 gubernatorial race is laying the boldest stone yet.

Unpaid Intern? You Probably Aren't Protected Against Sexual Harassment

Today's post was shared by Mother Jones and comes from www.motherjones.com

This story first appeared on ProPublica.

In 1994, Bridget O'Connor began an internship at Rockland Psychiatric Center, where one of the doctors allegedly began to refer to her as Miss Sexual Harassment, told her that she should participate in an orgy, and suggested that she remove her clothing before meeting with him. Other women in the office made similar claims.

Yet when O'Connor filed a lawsuit, her sexual harassment claims were dismissed because she was an unpaid intern. A federal appeals court affirmed the decision to throw out the claim.

Unpaid interns miss out on wages and employment benefits, but they can also find themselves in "legal limbo" when it comes to civil rights, according to law professor and intern labor rights advocate David Yamada. The O'Connor decision (the leading ruling on the matter, according to Yamada) held that because they don't get a paycheck, unpaid interns are not "employees" under the Civil Rights Act—and thus, they're not protected.

Federal policies echo court rulings. The laws enforced by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, including the Civil Rights Act, don't cover interns unless they receive "significant remuneration," according to commission spokesperson Joseph Olivares.

"At least with respect to the federal law that we enforce, an unpaid intern would not be legally protected by our laws prohibiting sexual harassment," Olivares said in an email to ProPublica.

It's unclear how many interns are sexually harassed at work....

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VA pays out $200 million for nearly 1,000 veterans’ wrongful deaths

Today's post was shared by FairWarning and comes from cironline.org

An Iraq War veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder and a history of drug dependency is found dead on the floor of his room at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in West Los Angeles after doctors give him a 30-day supply of the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam and a 15-day supply of methadone. In Shreveport, La., a veteran overdoses on morphine while housed in a locked VA psychiatric unit. In a Minnesota VA psych ward, a veteran shoots himself in the head. In Portland, Ore., a delusional veteran jumps off the roof of the VA hospital. These are some of the deaths that resulted in more than $200 million in wrongful death payments by the Department of Veterans Affairs in the decade after 9/11, according to VA data obtained by The Center for Investigative Reporting. In that time, CIR found the agency made wrongful death payments to nearly 1,000 grieving families, ranging from decorated Iraq War veterans who shot or hanged themselves after being turned away from mental health treatment, to Vietnam veterans whose cancerous tumors were identified but allowed to grow, to missed diagnoses, botched surgeries and fatal neglect of elderly veterans. “It wasn’t about the money, I just thought somebody should be held accountable,” said 86-year-old Doris Street, who received a $135,000 settlement in 2010 as compensation for the 2008 death of her brother, Carl Glaze. The median payment in VA wrongful death cases was $150,000. Click for larger image Glaze, a...

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Costliest 1 Percent Of Patients Account For 21 Percent Of U.S. Health Spending

Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from www.kaiserhealthnews.org

A 58-year-old Maryland woman breaks her ankle, develops a blood clot and, unable to find a doctor to monitor her blood-thinning drug, winds up in an emergency room 30 times in six months. A 55-year-old Mississippi man with severe hypertension and kidney disease is repeatedly hospitalized for worsening heart and kidney failure; doctors don't know that his utilities have been disconnected, leaving him without air conditioning or a refrigerator in the sweltering summer heat. A 42-year-old morbidly obese woman with severe cardiovascular problems and bipolar disorder spends more than 300 days in a Michigan hospital and nursing home because she can't afford a special bed or arrange services that would enable her to live at home. These patients are among the 1 percent whose ranks no one wants to join: the costly cohort battling multiple chronic illnesses who consumed 21 percent of the nearly $1.3 trillion Americans spent on health care in 2010, at a cost of nearly $88,000 per person. Five percent of patients accounted for 50 percent of all health-care expenditures. By contrast, the bottom 50 percent of patients accounted for just 2.8 percent of spending that year, according to a recent report by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Sometimes known as super-utilizers, high-frequency patients or frequent fliers, these patients typically suffer from heart failure, diabetes and kidney disease, along with a significant psychiatric problem. Some are...

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Burnout Classified as a Medical Condition

Today's post is shared from etui.org 

Meeting in Geneva on 20-27 May 2019 for its 72nd session, the World Health Organization (WHO) World Assembly has taken a landmark decision. Referring to the conclusions of health experts, it has declared burn-out to be an “occupational phenomenon”, opening the door to having it classified in the WHO's International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Codenamed “QD85”, burn-out is now to be found in the section on “problems associated with employment or unemployment”.

In the words of the WHO, burn-out “specifically refers to phenomena related to the professional context and should not be used to describe experiences in other areas of life.”

The new International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) will come into force on January 1, 2022.

First identified in the 1970s, burn-out had not yet been listed in any of the international classifications (i.e, that of the WHO or the American Psychiatric Association).

The UNO’s specialist agency had initially stated that burn-out had been included as a disease in the ICD, a classification used for identifying health trends and statistics. However, the next day a WHO spokesperson issued a revised statement, saying that burn-out was going to be switched from the category “factors influencing health status” to “occupational phenomena”, though without being included in the list of “diseases”.

“Inclusion in this chapter means that burn-out is not conceptualized as a medical condition, but as an occupational phenomenon”, the spokesman clarified in a communiqué.

Click here to read about the ETUI

See also:

Vers une reconnaissance du burn-out comme maladie ?, in : Le Monde, 28/05/2019

The new WHO classification is available online: https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en#/http://id.who.int/icd/entity/129180281

WHO Press release

Labor groups ask employers to address "burnout" among their workers

…. 

Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thomson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thomson-Reuters). For over 4 decades the Law Offices of Jon L Gelman 1.973.696.7900jon@gelmans.com has been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Subject of Smear Campaign Recovers for Psychiatric Condition

An employee, who was the object of a smear campaign that included being the subject of  circulated pornographic cartoons, was permitted to seek benefits for psychological residuals flowing from the humiliation, shock and anger that resulted in her loss of sleep. The worker was treated for an adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressive mood.


The trial court, that was affirmed, had concluded:


"...[t]he aforementioned events cannot be characterized as an honest attempt to ensure that an office is running in an efficient and effective manner. Here, [p]etitioner was subjected, in part, to a resignation rumor, a potentially improper layoff, together with the aforementioned . . . sexual propaganda . . . . [I]t shocks the conscience that same would have occurred over such a long period of time without otherwise being addressed by the employer."


In affirming the Appellate Court held:


"In finding in petitioner's favor, Judge Leslie A. Berich applied correct legal standards.  The Workers' Compensation Act is 'humane social legislation designed to place the cost of work connected injury upon the employer who may readily provide for it as an operating expense.'"


Lori Ross v. City of Asbury Park, Docket No. A-0379-08T3 


Click here to read more about stressful conditions and workers' compensation.

Medical Monitoring Available Under the Zadroga 9-11 Health Compensation Fund

The World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program is funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health under the Zadroga Act which was enacted last year.

MEDICAL TREATMENT for 9/11 responders
The program provides free treatment, including: doctor's visits, diagnostic testing and medications for WTC-covered conditions. Here is a list of covered conditions:

Aerodigestive Disorders

New onset or aggravation of pre-existing conditions for which clinical findings suggest onset is related to WTC exposure/injury:

• Interstitial lung diseases
• Chronic Respiratory Disorder –Fumes/Vapors
• Asthma
• Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome (RADS)
• WTC-exacerbated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Chronic Cough Syndrome
• Upper airway hyperreactivity
• Chronic rhinosinusitis
• Chronic nasopharyngitis
• Chronic laryngitis
• Gastro-esophageal Reflux Disorder (GERD)
• Sleep apnea exacerbated by or related to the above conditions

Mental Health Conditions
New onset or aggravation of pre-existing conditions for which clinical findings suggest onset is related to WTC exposure/injury:

• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Major Depressive Disorder
• Panic Disorder
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• Anxiety Disorder (not otherwise specified)
• Depression (not otherwise specified)
• Acute Stress Disorder
• Dysthymic Disorder
• Adjustment Disorder
• Substance Abuse

“V codes” (treatments not specifically related to psychiatric disorders, such as marital problems, parenting problems etc.)

Musculoskeletal Disorders
New onset or aggravation of pre-existing conditions for which careful review of symptoms or other clinical information suggests relationship to WTC exposure/injury:

• Low back pain
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)
• Other musculoskeletal disorders

Are you eligible?
This program serves the workers and volunteers who responded to the September 11th attacks. If you did any paid work or volunteered, on or after September 11th, that was directly related to the disaster, you may qualify. To find out whether you are eligible, call 888-702-0630 or download and fill out an eligibility questionnaire and fax it to us at 212-241-1850.

For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational and enviornmental exposures. Please contact our office if you require assistance in filing a claim under the newly enacted James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.

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Phones Off, Court On

New Jersey reaffirms a near-total ban on recording workers' compensation proceedings.