The Connecticut General Assembly is again debating whether to require workers' compensation insurance to cover post-traumatic stress for first responders. Monroe Representative JP Sredzinski is currently a 911 center Dispatch Supervisor, has been in the field since 1999 and previously worked as a volunteer on the ambulance.
The police officer, firefighter or emergency medical worker would have had to witness the death of a person or the immediate aftermath of such a death while in the line of duty. Sredzinski says the diagnosis would have to be certified, and made by a Board approved mental health professional.
The Public Safety Committee has approved a version of the bill.
A similar bill is being considered in the Labor and Public Employees Committee. Committee leaders say there will likely be negotiations in the coming weeks about which employees to ultimately cover under such legislation and whether the state and municipalities will pick up the tab.
Organizations representing municipalities are opposing the bill, arguing claims could range from thousands of dollars to more than a million dollars, depending on the duration and scope of treatment.
Last year, Newtown police Officer Thomas Bean appeared before lawmakers and spoke about experiencing depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts since responding to Sandy Hook School on 12-14. He said he couldn't return to work and was receiving about half his base pay through Newtown's long-term disability insurance plan. If he were receiving workers' compensation benefits for his PTSD, he'd receive more than 66 percent of his net pay, including an average of overtime pay, tax-free.
The issue of workers' compensation coverage for PTSD also came up in 2010 when a police officer who responded to a brutal chimpanzee attack in Stamford described experiencing "a depression beyond depression." Frank Chiafari told lawmakers his supervisors filed a workers' compensation claim on his behalf for post-traumatic stress the night of the attack. But five days later, he was notified the claim had been denied because state law only applies to police shootings of people.
Rep. Stephen Dargan, D-West Haven, the committee's co-chairman, said he will support the legislation "no matter what the cost is to our municipalities." He spoke about working as a first responder and having to pull a friend's dead son from a car that had struck a telephone pole.
"I still see that in my mind, years later," he said.
