Suicide, the injured worker, and WSI

". . . The part that sends many seriously injured workers over the edge is the fact of how they are treated for being injured workers. Many injured workers companies try to write them off as fast as they can if the injured worker can not return to the same job as before. . . Also dealing with workers compensation harassment, worrying about your family, worrying about losing your benefits for “non-compliance”, dealing with pain that many people can not imagine every day. These things might draw an injured workers closer to that cliff, and some over it. . . . WSI concentrates on the fastest way to remove an injured worker from the system as they can, even if it leads to their untimely death. They have as much concern for injured workers as meat processing plants have concern for getting that next cow, or pig through the gate to slaughter. . . This has become a game of how much money can we save WSI, give back to the employers, while sending seriously injured workers into a job that pays less then $10k a year. Wow, no wonder some think suicide might look so good."

This is a subject that has hardly been touched in North Dakota. The suicide rates of seriously injured workers is a study I bet WSI does not do, and would not want to do a study on. Suicide tendencies of seriously injured workers is very high, many of these people before their injuries thought suicide was not a thing to consider.

Now suicide seems to be a thought in almost every seriously injured workers mind, and is caused by a combination of things. One is the injury itself causing the injured worker to have to change their whole lifestyle, and to learn a whole new way of living. Which in time alone would not be a bad thing to have to deal with, and can be overcome easily.

The part that sends many seriously injured workers over the edge is the fact of how they are treated for being injured workers. Many injured workers companies try to write them off as fast as they can if the injured worker can not return to the same job as before. Other injured workers due to their injuries are totally removed from any type of job they ever knew before, and forced into jobs that they hate. They are not mentally prepared for this type of change that workers comp is about to force on them. Also dealing with workers compensation harassment, worrying about your family, worrying about losing your benefits for “non-compliance”, dealing with pain that many people can not imagine every day. These things might draw an injured workers closer to that cliff, and some over it.

Does WSI worry about this, not one little bit. WSI concentrates on the fastest way to remove an injured worker from the system as they can, even if it leads to their untimely death. They have as much concern for injured workers as meat processing plants have concern for getting that next cow, or pig through the gate to slaughter. The programs in North Dakota are such that many injured workers end up with not just physical scares, but mental scares too. They are then placed on mood altering medication to deal with the problem. Once they have that done then WSI figures now what do we have to worry? We have a pain pill popping, mood medication taking future telemarketer. WSI could care less if you were a doctor, nurse, manager of a dept. store, highly paid construction worker, or a clerk at a checkout counter. The class of job you had before means nothing now, you will be what they tell you to be, or you are going to lose your benefits. Like so many other injured workers like Doug D. Riley. This has become a game of how much money can we save WSI, give back to the employers, while sending seriously injured workers into a job that pays less then $10k a year. Wow, no wonder some think suicide might look so good.

If you loved one committed suicide after becoming an injured worker, and they were placed on mood medications, and they had no previous mental issues there is a problem. I think that in a case like this the spouse, or children might have a good wrongful death lawsuit against WSI.

It is all very intresting aspects, although reality really hits when you read the story below. The sad part is this is one of thousand of stories on the internet about this type of problem, yet WSI ignores this issue. The sad part is this story come out of a state that North Dakota is trying to mirror in workers compensation laws.