March 2010 Archives

Okay, just when I think I've heard it all... Thanks to Roberto Ceniceros once again over at Comp Time for sharing Prison Guards and Sex. It's my pick for this week's Freaky Comp Friday.

The short version of the story is...44 year-old John Smiley, a California corrections officer allegedly filed a claim under workers' compensation, stating that he was shot by a parolee. The problem? A $6,500 investigation shows that he was really shot at a sex club known for swingers after he and his wife had sex with another couple. A broken condom seems to be the reason for the dispute. Unfortunately for Mr. Smiley, the shooting left him paralyzed. It nearly resulted in a $2.5 million dollar workers' comp settlement. Wow. Perhaps Mr. Smiley's swinging days are over.

Roberto Ceniceros who writes for Comp Time, a blog publilshed by Business Insurance, does a great job of illuminating just a few of the complexities that arise when courts are charged with determining benefits for immigrant workers in his recent post titled Immigrant Workers and Benefit Complexities.

Reading Mr. Ceniceros' post made me think again of an issue that I posted on last week, Deadliest Jobs in America, which mentions that hispanics, or latinos, are most at risk for dying while on the job.

On a similar note, having recently watched the documentary movie titled Food Inc., I am now more aware of a plethora of issues that are directly related to our food industry, specifically the issues related to farm workers. The movie is alarming on many levels and I recommend you watch it if you'd like a real eye-opening reality check on our food system and the way we think about food. One of the major issues the movie focuses on, though, are the problems that arise out of factory farming and the hazards that farm workers face. I defifnitely don't recommend you watch the movie while eating a fast food meal from any of the major fast food restaurants. It won't be a pleasant meal.

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time making heads or tails of what's going on with health care reform. All I know is most people are highly emotional about it. Some of my fellow bloggers are much more adept on the subject than I am. 

The issue of health care reform has ignited some nasty political debates. So, rather than ignore the topic because I feel ignorant about it, I feel compelled to at least offer up some resources, commentaries and articles that I feel are worth sharing. My motto of course being that you should read and try to form some kind of an opinion rather than stick your head in the sand.... 

Posted earlier today on The Huffington Post:
Weekly Pulse: Pelosi Makes Her Move

The Huffington Post posted this story yesterday:
A NY Times Reporter Confirms Obama made a backroom deal to kill the public option.

The New York Times offers a collection of articles and commentaries.

The Washington Post has been tracking the national health care reform debate thoroughly. Be sure to check out the "major players" at the bottom, and if you have extra time, dig deeper into their "Daily Dose" and Healthcare Rx features.

CNN offers up the CNN Political Ticker on health care. Once there, you can sign up for twice daily email updates of Ticker emails.

The Wall Streat Journal provides us with a Health-Care Overhaul, a collection of the latest news stories and polls related to health care reform.

Yahoo News offers trending articles from major news sources on hot topics including health care reform. For the latest, just type in "health care reform" in the search field.

C-Span.org offers videos of actual debates and other political topics related to health care reform via its Health Care Hub.

To read Obama's health reform proposal, his proposed budget and to see how proposed reform would benefit your state, visit HealthReform.gov.

Read what the Democrats see as the Top 10 Immediate Benefits of health care reform.

Want a minute-by-minute update on all things related to the Obama Presidency? Then check out Politico.com's Politico44; for specifics on all the nit picky details of what's happening with health care reform, and I mean every meeting, every possible detail and discussion, check out their LivePulse or their version of breaking news on the health care fight.

For a Libertarian view of what's happening read Reason.com's articles related to health care reform.

Want an independent view of what's happening with health care reform? Check out The Real News Network's section on health care reform. According to their website, The Real News Network is a non-profit news and documentary network focused on providing independent uncompromising journalism.

Also worth checking out is WhoRunsGov.com an online publication of The Washington Post. What is it? According to the site, it offers profiles of government decision-makers with an interesting twist -- it allows ANYONE to make contributions to the profiles, although they do say they are subject to approval by their editorial team. Real interesting reading to learn who's who, why and how. 

Do you take mattresses seriously? Believe it or not, a mattress can significantly impact the health and well-being of a long-term disability patient. As Zack Craft, vice president of rehabilitation technology and complex care at TMS, points out in a recent article titled "Resting Easy: Mattresses Make a Difference in Complex Care," long-term disability claims comprise over 11 percent  of the workers' compensation medical cost dollar. For this reason, mattresses of complex care patients should be a major cost consideration.

Zack points out in his article that there are hundreds of of rehabilitative mattresses on the market. All kinds of mattresses addressing specific issues are available, but typically in workers' compensation claims, the scripts are limited to just a few manufacturers and models.

Be sure to read the entire article on Florida Underwriter. Zack does a great job of discussing scenarios where simple oversights related specifically to mattresses go unoticed. These oversights end up costing the carrier more money and the patient additional pain and suffering. Partnering with the right workers' compensation speciatly company who has the expertise in complex care would help to avoid scenarios like this and more.

This story has received a good amount of attention recently due to the horrific accident that attracted widespread media attention about a year ago. Most of us are familiar with the main story of how Charla Nash was mauled beyond recognition by a well-known 200 lb chimp named Travis in Connecticut last year. If not, you can read about it as originally reported by USAToday.com here.

But few know the story about the police officer who shot and killed the chimp on that fateful day. Officer Frank Chiafari has been denied workers' comp benefits related to the incident. Chiafari filed a workers' comp insurance claim for post-traumatic stress disorder following the incident last year. Chiafari shot the chimp after it ripped open the door to his patrol car and he found himself face to face with the enraged creature as it reached in and tried to grab him. It is an interesting read for sure. Certainly not the kind of thing you hear about in the workers' comp industry very often. The New York Times did a great job covering Chiafari's story. You can read the article here.

The claim was denied because under Connecticut law only police shootings of people qualify for workers' comp benefits, not the shooting of animals. Fortunately for Chiafari, he has some friends on the force and in other high places who have gone to bat for him and have taken up his cause. And as the Huffington Post reports, he has found an outlet for his pain: music. 

What I find most alarming about this story, though, as with many of the stories I cover for the Freaky Comp Friday feature, are the cold, insensitive, even hateful remarks made by the people who post comments about Chiafari. Read them. Some of the harsh comments seem to be made by other police officers. Makes you wonder...where is the love people? Is there no compassion left in this world?