A Delaware Superior Court has upheld an Industrial Accident Board decision denying a longtime workers compensation claimant’s request for reimbursement of medical marijuana to treat psychological injuries stemming from a workplace robbery at a Family Dollar store.
The claimant, who suffered a compensable injury in 2004 after being violently assaulted during a robbery at work, sought authorization for medical marijuana as treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and related conditions, as documented in C.A. No. S26A-02-001, filed April 21.
She had been receiving total disability benefits and benefits for permanent brain impairment since the incident and argued that marijuana helped reduce anxiety, improve functioning and lessen symptoms she associated with PTSD. She testified that she used marijuana nightly, sometimes during the day, and paid for it herself.
Her treating psychiatric nurse practitioner supported the request, testifying that the claimant reported significant improvement after starting marijuana and that prior medications had not provided adequate relief. Family Dollar Stores challenged the claim with testimony from three experts, including a neurologist, a neuropsychologist and a physician certified to evaluate medical marijuana candidates.
Those experts testified that marijuana was not reasonable or necessary treatment given the claimant’s extensive psychiatric history, seizure history, medical comorbidities and concerns about symptom exaggeration and inconsistent reporting. They also warned that THC-containing marijuana could worsen anxiety, psychosis and dissociative symptoms, particularly in patients with complex psychiatric conditions. One doctor said her responses during neurological testing were indicative of “symptom exaggeration.”
The board credited the employer’s experts over the claimant’s provider, finding the claimant had not met her burden of proving that medical marijuana was reasonable and necessary under Delaware’s Workers’ Compensation Act.
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