HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2909        FILED ON: 1/17/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3785

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Joseph W. McGonagle, Jr.

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to the disability or death caused by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2909        FILED ON: 1/17/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3785

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

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An Act relative to the disability or death caused by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Chapter 32 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 94B the following section:-

Section 94C. (a) “Post-traumatic stress disorder”, a disorder that meets the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress, specified by the American Psychiatric Association in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders, or most recently published edition.

“Mental health professional”, a person with professional training, experience and demonstrated competence in the treatment and diagnosis of mental conditions, who is certified or licensed to provide mental health care services and for whom diagnosis of mental conditions are within their scope of practice, including a physician, nurse with recognized psychiatric specialties, psychiatrist, psychologist, clinical social worker, mental health counselor or alcohol and drug abuse counselor.

(b) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary relative to the non-contributory or contributory retirement system, any condition of impairment of health caused by post-traumatic stress disorder or mental impairment diagnosed by a mental health professional resulting in total or partial disability or death of: (1) a full-time uniformed member of a paid police department, paid fire department, paid municipal emergency medical service department, the police department of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the state police or the public works building police, (2) any employee in the department of correction or a county correctional facility whose regular or incidental duties require the care, supervision or custody of prisoners, criminally insane persons or defective delinquents, (3) any permanent crash crewmen, crash boatman, fire controlman or assistant fire controlman employed at the General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, (4) the members of the 104th fighter wing fire department or (5) members of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department, shall if they successfully passed a physical examination on entry into said service, which examination failed to reveal any evidence of said condition, shall be presumed to have been suffered in the line of duty, unless it is shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the post-traumatic stress or mental impairment was caused by non-service connected risk factors or non-service connected exposure.       

(c) This section shall not apply to any person serving in said positions for fewer than 5 years at the time that said condition of post-traumatic stress disorder or mental impairment is first diagnosed, unless said condition of post-traumatic stress disorder or mental impairment can be demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence that the work related event or work related stress which caused the post-traumatic stress disorder or mental impairment was extraordinary and unusual in comparison to pressures and tensions experienced by the average employee across all occupations, and that the work related event or work related stress, and not some other event or source of stress, was the predominant cause of the post-traumatic stress disorder or mental impairment. Any person first diagnosed with any condition of post-traumatic stress disorder or mental impairment within 5 years of the last date on which said person actively served shall be eligible to apply for benefits pursuant to this section, and if granted, said benefits shall be payable as of the date on which the employee last received regular compensation.

(d) Any condition of post-traumatic stress disorder or mental impairment shall not be presumed to have been suffered in the line of duty if by accident arising out of and in the course of employment if it results from any disciplinary action, work evaluation, job transfer, layoff, demotion, termination, resignation, retirement or similar action taken in good faith by the employer.