(Facebook photo / Gila County Sheriff’s Office)
PHOENIX – A recent Arizona Supreme Court ruling sets an important precedent for first responders battling post-traumatic stress disorder across the state.
The court ruling is based on a 2017 workplace shooting involving John France, a now retired sergeant in the Gila County Sheriff’s Office.
France sought compensation for workers after shooting and killing a man who pointed a 12-gage shotgun at him and refused to drop it.
He and another deputy were cleared of all wrongdoing, but PTSD was diagnosed in France.
For the past three years, France has been denied workers’ mental health compensation.
“I had to defend the concept that I was injured and felt a little out of place because I was milking it for claiming I had a mental injury,” said France, who had been in the job 35 years before the incident. He was his accredited PTSD, KTAR News 92.3 FM said on Thursday.
The Arizona Supreme Court ruling states that first responders who experience an “unusual, unexpected, or extraordinary” event during the work that causes PTSD are covered by employee compensation insurance.
“Essentially, this decision means that employer / employee compensation insurers cannot deny first-aid cases for PTSD by arguing that they have been trained in circumstances that may arise in the workplace,” said Matt Fendon, the Arizona workers’ compensation attorney Sgt. France said.
First aiders who meet the requirements will in future be entitled to medical benefits, wage replacement benefits and benefits in the event of permanent disabilities.
“The big win, or the big takeaway, is that it has hopefully closed the door to those who are now in the pipeline so that their situation can be more fairly assessed,” France said. “Hopefully it will prevent anyone from going through the three and a half years of pain and agony that I and my family went through.”
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