{"id":4096,"date":"2016-11-30T14:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T18:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/?p=4096"},"modified":"2016-12-05T15:47:12","modified_gmt":"2016-12-05T19:47:12","slug":"virginia-workers-compensation-for-occupational-diseases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/virginia-workers-compensation-for-occupational-diseases\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Workers\u2019 Compensation for Occupational Diseases"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Most workers need to show they suffered a specific workplace injury that occurred at a specific point in time in order to recover <a href=\"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/practice-areas\/workers-compensation\/\">workers\u2019 compensation<\/a> in Virginia.<\/p>\n<p>There is an exception for workers who suffer a disease that is due to work. Most occupational diseases occur after months or more normally years of exposure. Many workers may not even know they acquired the disease until decades after the exposure. The delay in seeking treatment for the disease can be problematic for many workers because employers and their insurance companies are likely to initially deny coverage due to the delay and the failure to point to a specific triggering event.<\/p>\n<p>Joe Miller Esq., understands the Virginia occupational illness laws. He fights for workers who suffer these diseases which are often deadly, life-threating, or disabling. He works with doctors to determine the disease, the cause of the disease, and to show the disease was related to daily work performance. For Virginia worker\u2019s compensation, the last day the employee was exposed is generally considered the formal date of workplace injury; however the time period for the running of the two-year deadline to file the claim doesn\u2019t occur until the worker has been told by a health care provider that he has a work-related disease.<\/p>\n<h2>The Virginia Statutory Definition of Occupational Disease<\/h2>\n<p>Here is the state statutory definition of occupational disease. Some exceptions may apply. An experienced Virginial workers\u2019 compensation attorney will know those exceptions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Occupational disease&#8221; means a disease arising out of and in the course of employment, but not an ordinary disease of life to which the general public is exposed outside of the employment.<\/p>\n<p>A disease shall be deemed to arise out of the employment only if there is apparent to the rational mind, upon consideration of all the circumstances:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A direct causal connection between the conditions under which work is performed and the occupational disease;<\/li>\n<li>It can be seen to have followed as a natural incident of the work as a result of the exposure occasioned by the nature of the employment;<\/li>\n<li>It can be fairly traced to the employment as the proximate cause;<\/li>\n<li>It is neither a disease to which an employee may have had substantial exposure outside of the employment, nor any condition of the neck, back or spinal column;<\/li>\n<li>It is incidental to the character of the business and not independent of the relation of employer and employee; and<\/li>\n<li>It had its origin in a risk connected with the employment and flowed from that source as a natural consequence, though it need not have been foreseen or expected before its contraction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hearing loss and the condition of carpal tunnel syndrome are not occupational diseases. Virginia considers them to be ordinary diseases; however there are circumstances under which one can recover in such cases.<\/p>\n<h2>Ordinary Diseases<\/h2>\n<p>Generally, a worker who gets an ordinary disease does not qualify for workers\u2019 compensation. A worker who gets an occupational disease does qualify \u2013 so it\u2019s crucial to be able to prove that disease is occupational and not ordinary. Some ordinary diseases&#8212;such as various infections&#8212; may qualify as occupational diseases if the following conditions are clearly met if the disease can be shown to have arisen due to employment and not due to outside causes and if one of the following exists:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>It follows as an incident of occupational disease as defined in this title; or<\/li>\n<li>It is an infectious or contagious disease contracted in the course of one&#8217;s employment in a hospital or sanitarium or laboratory or nursing home, or while otherwise engaged in the direct delivery of health care, or in the course of employment as emergency rescue personnel and those volunteer emergency rescue personnel. Essentially, this means people who normally provide some type of healthcare service such as nurses and ER staff and who acquire a disease may qualify for workers\u2019 compensation.<\/li>\n<li>It is characteristic of the employment and was caused by conditions peculiar to such employment.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Common Types of Occupational Diseases<\/h2>\n<p>Many of the people who suffer an occupational disease suffer exposure to toxic chemicals. Some of the diseases associated with hazardous chemical exposure are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Diseases of the lung. Bronchitis, industrial asthma, lung cancer, and interstitial fibrosis<\/li>\n<li>Nerve diseases. Chronic encephalopathy and peripheral polyneuropathy.<\/li>\n<li>Another disease. Tuberculosis, hepatitis, Lyme disease, possibly HIV, cancer of the bladder or liver, heart disease.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mesothelioma, a deadly form of cancer, is another common occupational work disease. Many workers got\/get the disease due to exposure to asbestos. Many coal miners suffer from black lung disease.<\/p>\n<h2>Repetitive Motion Injuries and Emotional Stress Injuries<\/h2>\n<p>There are some occupational illnesses that are not due to exposure \u2013 rather they are due to repetitive stress. Workers who do a lot of computer work or repeat work such as assembly or machinist work can develop carpel tunnel syndrome and other repetitive stress injuries. Repetitive stress injuries are also called repeated motion injuries. The most common type of repetitive stress injury affects the wrists. If detected in time; rest, rehab, and some medications can help. If not detected in time, repetitive stress injuries can become a lifelong disability. Virginia workers\u2019 compensation law does not generally cover repetitive stress injuries \u2013 with the one exception of carpal tunnel syndrome.<\/p>\n<p>Conditions that are related to emotional stress such as depression or indigestion generally do not qualify for workers\u2019 compensation coverage in Virginia. If the stress is caused by a one-time event such as suffering or witnessing a workplace accident or death, then the worker has a better chance of recovering workers\u2019 compensation benefits. That being said, it must be the kind of job where one would not be expected to be exposed to such an event. For instance, a police officer who witnesses a shooting would probably not be able to recover for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; however, a nurse or other type of worker might. An experienced Virginia workers\u2019 compensation attorney such as Joe Miller can explain when emotional stress related disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are covered.<\/p>\n<h3>Talk to a Virginia Occupational Disease Attorney Now<\/h3>\n<p>Virginia work injury lawyer Joe Miller understands workers\u2019 compensation work injury law. He has been helping injured Virginia workers for over quarter of a century. He understands what workers need to prove to qualify for occupational disease benefits. For help now, call Joe Miller at (888) 694-1671 or fill out his <a href=\"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/contact-us\/\">online contact form<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most workers need to show they suffered a specific workplace injury that occurred at a specific point in time in order to recover workers\u2019 compensation in Virginia. There is an exception for workers who suffer a disease that is due to work. Most occupational diseases occur after months or more normally years of exposure. Many &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Virginia Workers\u2019 Compensation for Occupational Diseases\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/virginia-workers-compensation-for-occupational-diseases\/#more-4096\" aria-label=\"Read more about Virginia Workers\u2019 Compensation for Occupational Diseases\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[217,133],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Joe Miller","author_link":"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/author\/jmiller\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Most workers need to show they suffered a specific workplace injury that occurred at a specific point in time in order to recover workers\u2019 compensation in Virginia. There is an exception for workers who suffer a disease that is due to work. Most occupational diseases occur after months or more normally years of exposure. Many&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4096"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemillerinjurylaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}