Did Petitioner suffer from compensable physical injuries at workplace?

Summary: While Petitioner was working as an aide at a high school, a special needs student hit her, and then hit and pinched her two days later, leaving bruises. Petitioner did not seek nor require medical treatment for her bruises, although, after they resolved, she reported increased neck and arm pain to her medical providers. The attacks caused PTSD, and aggravated her preexisting anxiety, depression, and pseudoseizures, resulting in her inability to work. Petitioner asserts that she suffered compensable physical injuries, and compensable physical-mental injuries in the attacks.

Held: Respondent is entitled to summary judgment on Petitioner’s claims. Petitioner did not suffer compensable physical injuries in the attacks. Although she had bruising, she neither sought nor required medical treatment for her bruises, which resolved without any resulting disability. While Petitioner’s treating physician for her fibromyalgia diagnosed increased neck and arm pain as a result of the attacks, his diagnosis was based entirely on Petitioner’s subjective complaints of pain and was not substantiated by objective medical findings. Petitioner did not suffer compensable psychological injuries in the attacks. Petitioner’s anxiety, depression, and PTSD are mental-mental conditions, and her pseudoseizures are a mental-physical condition. Neither mental-mental nor mental- physical conditions are compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Act.

Judgment: Respondent’s Motion for Summary Judgment is granted.

READ FULL DOCUMENT AT ORIGNAL SOURCE: http://wcc.dli.mt.gov/g/TG_2018MTWCC1.pdf