Workers Compensation is designed to cover the cost of medical treatment that a person requires after becoming injured while on the job. An insurer in Missouri is refusing to cover the medical bills of a social worker who was injured by a tornado while doing his job. This leaves the worker with $2.5 million in medical bills.
No one becomes a social worker “for the money”. This line of work often includes low pay, long hours, and high levels of stress. The people who choose a career as a social worker are doing it because they truly want to make a difference in the lives of people who need some help.
Mark Lindquist, who is 51 years old, is a social worker. He works in Joplin, Missouri. On May 22, 2011, he was doing his job. He went to a group home where three middle-aged men, Mark Farmer, Rick Fox, and Tripp Miller, lived. These men have Down Syndrome. Mark Lindquist was accompanied by another social worker, Ryan Tackett. Both of them worked for the same employer.
When the tornado sirens went off, the social workers stayed to help. There was no basement to move the residents into, so the social workers placed mattresses over the men for protection. They then climbed onto the mattresses, and used their own bodies to weigh them down.
The EF-5 tornado destroyed more than 7,000 hones in Joplin, Missouri, (including the group home). The three men that Mark Lindquist and Ryan Tackett were trying to save did not survive. Lindquist barely survived.
He was buried in rubble, and impaled by a piece of metal. Chunks of his flesh had been torn off. Some of the bones in his shoulder crumbled as he was being rescued. He was in a coma, and in a vegetative state. While in the hospital, he developed a fungal infection from debris that got into his open wounds. When he finally woke up from the coma, he needed to spend a month in a rehab center.
Obviously, this generated a lot of medical bills. The amount has exceeded $2.5 million, and the bills are still coming. Mark Lindquist requires eleven daily prescriptions. He still needs to have some surgeries done. Like many Americans, he does not have health insurance, in part because he cannot afford to purchase it.
However, he is covered by workers compensation. He sent a claim to Accident Fund Insurance Company of America, but they decided to deny his claims. The reason given for this denial was: “based on the fact that there was no greater risk than the general public at the time you were involved in the Joplin tornado.” It seems the insurer is choosing to ignore the fact that Mark Lindquist was injured while working.
Image by Kansas City District on Flickr