Illinois: Fire Lieutenant Entitled to Benefits for PTSD Following Fatal Fire

Where a fire lieutenant suffered from PTSD after witnessing a fellow firefighter die after a traumatic fire, the Commission’s decision that the claimant did not sustain accidental injuries that arose out of and in the course of his employment was against the manifest weight of the evidence. The court indicated that the lieutenant’s presence outside the house did not preclude the event from being traumatic, because he was in command of the fire and the death of a co-worker had not previously occurred during his career. The court also noted that the employer must have agreed the incident was traumatic; none of the firefighters involved in the traumatic event were allowed to return to work without being cleared by a mental health professional.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis%20Workers’%20Compensation%20eNewsletter">LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Moran v. Ill. Workers’ Comp. Comm’n, 2016 IL App (1st) 151366WC, 2016 Ill. App. LEXIS 494

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 56.04.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law