Law & Medicine

Workers’ compensation law


 

Question: Employee, a poorly controlled diabetic, accidentally stepped on a nail at work. Surrounding cellulitis and abscess formation set in, but because he was slow in getting to a doctor, the infection invaded the underlying bone, causing osteomyelitis. He ended up with a partial foot amputation. In a claim for workers’ compensation (WC) benefits, which of the following is best?

A. Employee has a claim under WC, a quasi no-fault system that requires an employer to compensate its employees only for accidents occurring in the workplace.

B. Employer may offer employee’s preexisting diabetic condition and his failure to promptly seek medical attention as substantial rebuttable evidence against compensability.

C. A similar no-fault system has been proposed as an alternative to medical tort litigation, but it has yet to be established in the developed world.

D. All are incorrect.

E. All are correct.

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