Woman suffering PTSD anxiety from car accident

MARCH 2024 NEWSLETTER: ARE YOU MISSING PTSD IN YOUR CLAIMS?

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex somatic, cognitive, and behavioral reaction to trauma. Patients suffering from PTSD experience symptoms including intrusion (memories, distressing dreams, flashbacks, etc.) and negative mood along with social or occupational impairment that last at least one month after experiencing or witnessing a severe, traumatic event1.

Although PTSD is prevalent and significantly impacts recovery and quality of life in those who have experienced traumatic injury, it is not routinely screened for. A nationwide survey of Level I and II Trauma Centers (N=627) revealed that less than 30% of these hospitals were screening for PTSD2. Unfortunately, your clients could be suffering from PTSD and not getting the help they need.

Q: does my client have ptsd?

The prevalence of PTSD among trauma patients far exceeds that of the general population. According to the American College of Surgeons, approximately 20–40 percent of injured trauma survivors experience high levels of PTSD and/or depressive symptoms during the year following injury3. In comparison, the past-year and lifetime prevalences of PTSD in the general population in the US were 4.7% and 6.1%, respectively4.

“PTSD…is not routinely screened for after accidents.”

Additionally, PTSD negatively impacts quality of life measures. Kenardy et al. showed that people injured in road traffic crashes have poor physical and mental health-related quality of life, particularly when psychiatric disorders like PTSD are present. Further complicating the recovery process is the fact that early psychiatric symptoms after trauma are associated with long-term disability5.

March is Women’s History Month. What about PTSD in women who experience traumatic injury?

Women are more likely than men to experience PTSD after accidents. One study showed that women reported symptoms such as “re-experiencing the trauma in the form of flashbacks, experiencing catastrophizing, fear of dying, nightmares and symptoms of depression” that were lacking in men6.

Worth the investment

The American College of Surgeons – Committee on Trauma (ACS-CoT) recognizes the need to address mental health concerns. It has recommended screening for posttraumatic psychological distress following hospitalization for a traumatic injury. As a trained primary care physician, I can recognize and appropriately screen your clients for PTSD. As your physician medical-legal consultant, we not only help you get a more favorable settlement, but we can also help your clients get the appropriate medical care they need.

let us know how we can help you

  • Medical Summary Reports for Settlement Letters
  • IME Observation & IME Rebuttal Reports
  • Reports Answering Specific Medical Questions
  • Standard of Care Reviews
  • Liaison with Treating Doctors
  • Help with Strategies to Promote Medical Theories
  • Interpretation of Meaning, or lack thereof, of Medical Reports and Records 
  • Independent Record Reviews
  • Assessment of Case Validity Regarding Medical Issues
  • Referral to Expert Medical Witnesses
  • Medical Research
  • Facilitation of Communication with Clients, Families, and Professionals 
  • Facilitation of Communication with Service and Governmental Agencies
  • Case Coordination
  • Deposition & Trial Question Preparation
  • Table-side Deposition & Trial Assistance 

We have purposefully kept our fees exceptionally low, allowing you the opportunity to have us review your cases early in your representation while controlling your expenses.

  1. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders DSM-5-TR. (2022). . American Psychiatric Association.  ↩︎
  2. Bulger, E. M., Johnson, P., Parker, L., Moloney, K. E., Roberts, M. K., Vaziri, N., Seo, S., Nehra, D., Thomas, P., & Zatzick, D. (2022). Nationwide Survey of Trauma Center Screening and Intervention Practices for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Firearm Violence, Mental Health, and Substance Use Disorders. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 234(3), 274–287. https://doi.org/10.1097/XCS.0000000000000064 ↩︎
  3. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Adults. (n.d.). ACS. Retrieved March 13, 2024, from https://www.facs.org/about-acs/statements/ptsd-in-adults/#:~:text=Symptoms%20lasting%20longer%20than%2030 ↩︎
  4. Goldstein, R. B., Smith, S. M., Chou, S. P., Saha, T. D., Jung, J., Zhang, H., Pickering, R. P., Ruan, W. J., Huang, B., & Grant, B. F. (2016). The epidemiology of DSM-5 posttraumatic stress disorder in the United States: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 51(8), 1137–1148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-016-1208-5 ↩︎
  5. Kenardy, J., Heron-Delaney, M., Warren, J., & Brown, E. (2015). The effect of mental health on long-term health-related quality of life following a road traffic crash: results from the UQ SuPPORT study. Injury, 46(5), 883–890. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.injury.2014.11.006 ↩︎
  6. Hasselberg, M., Kirsebom, M., Bäckström, J., Berg, H.-Y., & Rissanen, R. (2018). I did NOT feel like this at all before the accident: do men and women report different health and life consequences of a road traffic injury? Injury Prevention, 25(4), 307–312. https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2017-042673 ↩︎