Injured Contractors need to file a LS203

The most important thing an injured contractor can
do is to file a claim and prevent the stature of limitation
from running out.  I am attaching a copy of an LS 203  
Employees Notice of Claim.  This should be filled out by
any injured
worker.  It does not have to be typed out.

If they were injured in either Iraq,
Kuwait or Afghanistan it should
be mailed to the New York office
the Second District.

Office of Workers Compensation Programs

Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation

Post Office Box 249

New York, New York 10014-0249

Fax (646) 264-3002

I would send it by Certified Mail
Return Receipt Requested.

They should also send all medical
records and pay stub records to
the department of labor.
AMERICAN CONTRACTORS IN IRAQ
Do you know what to do when your injured on the job
while working in the War Zone?

  • Do you fully understand your rights?

  • What information are you or your family given on
    PTSD, the signs and symptoms so you know
    what to look for?

  • Is your insurance company helping you with any
    of the above?

CHECK OUT www.MDinaBOX.com
GIVING THE ATTORNEY THE COMPETITIVE EDGE
THE DEFENSE BASE ACT
"Fighting for American's Rights"
  • What does it mean to
    carry a DOD BADGE,
    while working for an
    Independent Contractor
    under a government
    contract?  

  • Do you know if you are
    an employee or an
    independant contractor?

  • Do you know if you
    worked for a Shell
    Company?
Dorothy Clay Sims,Esq. Sims,
Stakenborg & Henry, P.A. PO BOX 3l88
Ocala, Florida 34478
352.629.0480





Gary B. Pitts-Pitts & Associates
8866 Gulf Freeway, Suite 117
Houston, TX 77017
defensebasecomp@AOL.com
(800) 269-6345
(713)910-0555
(713)910-0594 fax

White Flood, PLLC
405 Main, Suite 820
Houston, Texas 77002
(866) 500-4394
www.whiteflood.com
www.defensebaseact-attorney.co

Jacob Shisha,
Tabak, Mellusi & Shisha
29 Broadway
New York, NY 10006
Tel:  (212) 962-1590
Fax: (212) 385-0920
jshisha@sealawyers.com

Jeffrey M. Winter
Attorney at Law
750 B Street, Suite 1910
San Diego, CA    92101
(619) 235-9737
(619) 235-9885
jwntrlaw@aol.com

Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick
One Turks Head Place, Suite 1313
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 331-6300

Mike Kanovitz
-LOEVY & LOEVY
Whistle Blowers
312 North May St.
Suite 100
Chicago, IL 60607
(P) 312-243-5900
(F) 312-243-5902
A message to Defense Base Act PTSD victims:
From attorney Dorothy C Sims, Esq
Sims, Stakenborg & Henry, P.A.
ocalaw.com
352.629.0480

dcs@ocalaw.com

Dorothy C. Sims is the senior partner in Sims, Stakenborg & Henry, P.A.  
She’s taken a number of depositions of defense medical experts who
deny the DBA employee is injured.  In reviewing the material sent to her
by other lawyers formulated this document to help lawyers and patients
have proper tests to assist them in  educating the judge as to their
condition.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder/anxiety based disorders – How to Test
for It.  How to prove it.

First, remember that you do not have to prove you have PTSD to be
entitled to DBA benefits.  There are other psychiatric disorders that can
be caused by stress that may not rise to the level of PTSD, but still be
related to incidents that occur overseas.  

Proving Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can be quite difficult. Not
because it doesn’t exist or may be even clearly identifiable by the
treating doctor but because of the prejudices juries, judges, and
administrative law judges may have regarding the disease. Defense
experts frequently claim that particular symptoms or particular timing of a
symptom is proof that if the patient does not have PTSD.  This is
contrary to the American Psychiatric Association’s definition of criterion
for this disorder. The treating doctor is urged to go the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual as well as other protocols published by the Veterans’
Administration, the American Psychiatric Association which set forth the
criteria for diagnosing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The defense
medical expert may very well claim certain criteria exist but when forced
to produce science to support that conclusion rarely are there any peer
reviewed journal or publication that supports his/her method.

Since there appears to be a prejudice on the part of many judges and
many jurors in regard to PTSD (it’s not real, too easily faked, etc.) the
treating doctor  is urged to consider  the possibility of objective
measures such as considering the following:

Treating doctors may rarely provide any kind of Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder test or screening scale. Therefore, the treating doctor may
consider  the possibility of actually administering Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder tests to determine the specific symptoms of the disorder.
Research reveals that individuals with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
actually have, contrary to what one might expect, lower than normal
decreased basal Cortisol levels and increased glucocorticoid receptors.
Therefore, if the doctor conducts blood work would be another
recommendation to determine whether or not the blood level reveals the
patient  are out of the normal reference range.  This can then be used
as objective piece of evidence by which the doctor may rely fitting the
puzzle together to determine the ultimate diagnosis. See Yehuda,
Rachel, Biology of Post Traumatic Stress, J Clinical Psychiatry, 2001:62
(Suppl. 17).  The blood work also may show findings consistent with
PTSD by showing suppression on DST (Dexamethasone suppression
test) and negative feedback inhibition.  In chronic PTSD patients,
“Chronic CRF release “leads to an altered responsiveness of the
pituitary gland as it is true in anxiety disorders.”  In fact, if you have an
MRI which shows lower than normal hippocampal volume, that can be
related to PTSD as well.

This next suggestion may be extremely uncomfortable the patient and
the patient may needs clearance from the family doctor in order to
confirm in fact the patient has PTSD. The doctor can monitor your
patient’s heart rate while having your patient re-experience the trauma
and/or showing him pictures or sounds of the event that resulted in the
post-traumatic disorder and can objectively show any increase in his
heart rate. Again, document his reaction.  Again, the APA indicates that
chronic PTSD” may measured through studies of autonomic functioning
(eg heart rate, electromyography, sweat gland activity)”
Exposure to simulated trauma can cause increased sweating, rapid heart
rate, etc.
Research reveals that individuals with anxiety disorder have certain
patterns on PET scans.  Sending your patient out for a PET scan under
the circumstances, especially if he has been exposed to a blast injury
may not be a bad idea either. Unfortunately, it is expensive and you
really need somebody quite good at comparing your patient’s PET scan
to individuals with anxiety disorders and a normal sample in order to
draw a conclusion. But again, it can be an objective piece of evidence.
The next piece of evidence is a well kept diary from the claimant as well
as his family. Very often people don’t realize when their own behavior is
bizarre or unusual and while the family may recognize it at the time they
must document it clearly in a diary then there are explanations as to how
the claimant or plaintiff as changed, become quite vague and somewhat
useless. Our firm has a diary online and we urge patients  to download
the diary and give it to their family members and tell them to keep a daily
diary of behavior; morning, noon, and evenings, for 14 consecutive
days. This has proven to be invaluable in many cases and it is also
helpful to the treating doctor to understand the severity to the patient’s
condition and thus how to treat the PTSD.
Consider that the patient may not actually have PTSD,  but may have
some other diagnosis such as adjustment disorder secondary to the
trauma which is not required the same level of trauma as does PTSD but
still can be compensable.  
Watch for defense doctors who give the MMPI, then ignore it.  An
elevated PK scale can indicate the presences of PTSD.  See The
Essentials of MMPI2 and MMPIA Interpretation, 2nd ed., P. 170, Butcher,
J., Williams, C., University of Minnesota Press.
Watch for doctors who administer an abbreviated or shortened version
of the MMPI because the shortened version won’t show the PK scale.
That may be why doctors intentionally give the shortened version – so
they don’t have to admit their own test shows evidence of PTSD.  

The Defense Base Act Blog- Herbert Chestnut  & Aaron
Walter, DBA attorneys