West Virginia High Court Affirms Denial for Opioid Prescriptions

Delaware Employer Need Not Pay for Claimant’s Opioids More than 9 Years After Accident

The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed a decision of the Superior Court that in turn had affirmed a decision by the state’s Industrial Accident Board (“IAB”) granting an employer’s petition for...

NY Court Affirms Board’s Decision to Require Weaning From Opioids

A New York appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that directed that a claimant be weaned from his narcotic prescription medications in accordance with the...

Nebraska Employer Need Not Pay for Unauthorized Medical Treatment in Florida Following Worker’s Relocation

Employer Balks at Out-of-State MD’s Recommendation of Long-Term Opioid Cocktail That an injured worker’s “Form 50” physician had died and the worker had subsequently moved from Nebraska to Florida did...

WCRI’s Upcoming Annual Conference Looks Like a Winner

Speakers Include Former Head of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics The 34th Annual Issues and Research Conference, sponsored by Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI), promises to be an outstanding forum...

Tennessee Widow Loses Battle Related to Injured Worker’s Overdose Death

In a case that echoes the plight of all too many injured workers in the U.S., the Supreme Court of Tennessee has overturned a decision of a state chancery court...

Like Oil & Water, Oxycodone and Xanax Don’t Mix

Nebraska Worker’s Death From Apparent Suicide is Not Compensable In a case that is heartbreaking from multiple points of view, the family of an injured Nebraska employee was denied workers’...

Shall We Dance—New Book Describes Complex, Psychological Tango Between Physician and Patient Over Opioid Prescriptions

Jane and I are seven days into a 10-day cruise to (and from) the Panama Canal. I’m gloating, of course. While even our native Durham, North Carolina, is currently shivering,...

Medical Marijuana: Reasonable and Necessary Medical Treatment for Pain?

Appellate Division of Maine’s Comp Board Orders Two Employers to Reimburse Workers for Treatment Costs In two separate decisions, the Appellate Division of Maine’s Workers’ Compensation Board recently affirmed two...

510 Pills Per Month With Little Improvement: Tennessee High Court Allows Change of Physician

Illustrating the deep—and sometimes bitter—divide between some who espouse clinically oriented medical treatment and others that promote the so-called “best practices” guidelines outlined in evidence-based medicine (EBM), a Special Workers’...