AIG, their IME, PTSD the saga continues

Following is a recent PTSD case that was not won or not lost, we’re not sure.

Maybe they’ve made up another “Blended Approach”  like they were using for AWW, for determining PTSD.   Not really giving the claimant what the DBA entitles him to, but giving him enough that it doesn’t appear that he was completely denied benefits.  The plaintiff’s attorney in this case often ends up with the “blended approach”.

In this case, the case is below, ALJ Rosenows claims that

“the fully developed rationale of the more extensively trained and credentialed Dr Griffin” carries more weight with him than the claimants doctor.

This doctor is not qualified to administer or interpret the MMPI and the Fake Bad Scale , Bullshit as Science, although in another claim he did administer these tests in an unmarked office on a Sunday morning in Houston and the claimant subsequently lost his case.  The same plaintiff’s attorney sent this claimant from 5 states away to see this charlatan.

In a hearing under Judge Romero this doctor states

“The diagnoses of PTSD is much in doubt. It’s never been validated scientifically, and there are numerous papers criticizing it. It might just be another Gulf War Sydrome” .

This doctor does have a history of being paid to testify on behalf of AIG in DBA claims.

The claimant was not  required to go to this Doctor according to the Defense Base Act so why did he go, GARY?

Click on the Case number to read this case, pay attention to the players, visit the DBA X Files for more

U.S. Department of Labor Office of Administrative Law Judges
St. Tammany Courthouse Annex
428 E. Boston Street, 1st Floor
Covington, LA 70433-2846
(985) 809-5173
(985) 893-7351 (Fax)
Issue Date: 08 April 2009
Case No. 2008-LDA-326
OWCP No. 02-141282
In the Matter of:
J.E.,
Claimant
vs.
EG & G TECHNICAL SERVICE,
Employer
and
AIG WORLDSOURCE,
Carrier
APPEARANCES:
GARY B. PITTS, ESQ.
On Behalf of Claimant
RICHARD L. GARELICK, ESQ.
On Behalf of Employer
BEFORE: PATRICK M. ROSENOW
Administrative Law Judge
On 18 Mar 05, he was in Kirkuk. As he left the mess hallafter lunch, he was hit by a mortar round. It threw him five feet in the air and knocked him out. He was air evacuated to a MASH unit at Anaconda. That’s the reason his is scared of helicopters now.
He recalls a nurse holding his hand, having his clothes cut off, and getting doped up. After a week he was transferred to theArmy Hospital at Landstuhl, Germany. He was there about a week and then sent home to Monroe.
He was hospitalized for a day, and then released to go home,where he shares a house with his mother.

I did not find Mr. Gomilla’s findings or opinions to be as persuasive as the fullydeveloped rationale of the more extensively trained and credentialed Dr. Griffith.
Employer’s psychiatric expert likewise concluded that Claimant was trying to appear ill and inventing an illness. He noted that the MMPI results indicated Claimant was not truthful in his responses, indicating malingering and rendering the tested unusable for diagnosis. See Bullshit as Science

The expert medical evidence offered by Employer was the most probative and persuasive in the record.

The four expert doctors who examined Claimant on behalf of Employer issued highly consistent and mutually corroborative opinions as to Claimant’s status and ability to work.

AIG’s FAB Four

They found no significant objective findings to support Claimant’s subjective complaints, believed he was exaggerating and feigning symptoms, and could return to work.
At the outset, I note that I did not find Claimant’s testimony to be compellingly credible. His appearance and demeanor did not create an impression of reliability.