"Can I bring a lawsuit and recover for Mental and Emotional Injuries and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder even though I wan't physically injured?"

Post Traumatic Stress DisorderYes. The Jones Act and Maritime Laws allow you to recover for mental and emotional damages even if you did not suffer any visible physical injuries. In fact, almost all of the hundreds of workers we've represented in cases involving offshore and other work place explosions suffered from and recovered damages for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is why our maritime explosion lawyers regularly schedule all of our clients who were involved in a land based or offshore explosions for a consultation with a psychiatrist who is trained to detect and diagnose symptoms of PTSD. If the symptoms are present and the diagnosis is made, the doctor will usually prescribe an anti-anxiety medication to help the worker cope with his traumatic memories and flashbacks. In these cases, our explosion lawyers will demand that the worker's employer compensate the worker for the mental anguish, emotional distress, and loss of future wages that he's experienced as a result of the explosion.

Symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder:

Post traumatic stress disorder is most common in war veterans and workers who were involved in catastropic work place accidents that resulted in explosions and fires. Because they've both witnessed others getting seriously injured and killed, they often experience troubling and often permanent mental and emotional side effects.

Many of our clients who were diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress as a result of witnessing a workplace explosion suffered:

  • anxiety

  • depression

  • headaches

  • and frequently had trouble sleeping because of bad dreams about the explosion and their co-workers' injuries.

Damages that you can Recover for PTSD after Being involved in an Offshore Explosion are Often Substantial:

Because of the damage, injuries, and trauma that a worker involved in a offshore explosion has witnessed, he will almost always have some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is why it is important to tell your attorney or your doctor if you are experiencing bad dreams, anxiety, flash backs, hallucinations, or any other emotional or mental symptoms that you did not experience before the explosion.

Whether the worker will ever be able to return back to work offshore will depend on the severity of his symptoms. While some workers are able to recover from the emotional distress and trauma, it is common for the worker to have such severe anxiety and frequent and vivid memories and flashbacks that they can never return back to work offshore. In fact, approximatately 75% or more of the workers we have represented who were involved in offshore or other work place explosions and diagnosed with PTSD were told by their doctors that they could not go back to work offshore because doing so would make their symptoms worse and bring back traumatic memories.

When, as in most cases involving offshore explosions, the worker cannot go back to work offshore because of his PTSD, he is entitled to recover substantial damages. In addition to recovering for the mental anguish and pain and suffering that the explosion has caused him to experience, the law also allows the worker to receive all the future wages that he would have received if the explosion had not occurred and he had continued working. Because seaman typically earn over $50,000 a year, damages for lost future wages alone will often exceed $500,000, depending on the worker's age at the time he is diagnosed with PTSD.

It is Important that you Contact an Experienced Maritime Lawyer as Soon as Possible After Noticing that You or a Loved One has Experienced Anxiety, Depression, Nightmares, Constant Fear, or any other Emotional Changes as a Result of the Transocean Explosion.

The rig explosion lawyers at Fitts Zehl have represented hundreds of clients who were involved in work place explosions and diagnosed with PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Our lawyers and medical consultants will immediately arrange for you to be examined by a psychiatrist with experience treating workers who were involved in catastrophic accidents, and arrange for any additional medical treatment that is necessary.

We will then devote whatever resources necessary to ensuring that you and your family recover for your pain, suffering and any future income that you would have received had you continued working and the explosion not occurred.