Healthcare harm in workers' compensation — An introduction
This article launches a fortnightly series that will examine how healthcare delivery in workers' compensation can inadvertently harm the people it aims to help. Over the coming months, we'll explore the evidence, share lived experiences and prompt the discussions needed for change.
A warehouse worker with a simple back strain waits 3 weeks for physiotherapy approval. An MRI (‘to be thorough’) shows normal age-related changes, described as ‘multilevel degeneration’. 6 months later, the worker is on opioids, avoiding movement and nowhere near work. The original injury healed months ago. What remains is iatrogenic — complications we contributed to. This is not uncommon. For many workers navigatin...