Re: Claims with Workplace Safety & Insurance Board

Hi fellow Ontarions,

Dupuytren's Contracture is listed under 'Occupational Diseases' on the WSIB website. I don't know anyone personally who has made a claim and found this info purely by accident.

1) Google: WSIB
2) When on their main webpage locate the 'Search' function - it's in upper right hand corner.
3) Search 'Occupational Diseases'. Scroll down till you see a section called 'Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS).

In the boxes on the left the last line states '...Do handle claims for Dupuytren's Contracture.'

Note: if you are not able to find this sentence, click the 'Edit' function probably on the extreme upper left of your screen. Click 'Find on this Page' then type in 'Dupuytren's Contracture'. It should bring you directly to that sentence.

Now don't get all excited, this does not mean that they will pay, or have ever paid, it just means they 'handle claims for Dupuytrens Contracture'. If you decide to submit a claim to WSIB, or already have experience with them for your DC, *PLEASE* let us know how it turned out.

Anon

Hi,

I'm going to move this topic to the top so posters don't have to wade through those empty posts that were made last night.

Sorry about that folks, our forum troll seems to be back at it again.

Anon

The website is entitled 'Workplace Safty and Insurance Appeals Tribunal'. It contains the decisions made in Ontario for DC claims. Yes...some of them have been approved, but many have not.

Here's how to get the info:

1) Search 'Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunals'

2) Click 'Researching Decisions'

3) Click 'Search SWIAT Decisions'

4) Type 'Dupuytren's Contracture' in the section called 'Structured Keywords' then scroll down and click 'Search'

It's all there....decisions that have been dismissed and approved. :-) Many have been dismissed and the reasons were given...read them...because they will make the decisions that have been approved make more sense. Some times you see the same case twice because it was dismissed/appealed then approved.

If you wish to go directly to cases that have been accepted, use your search function under 'Edit' as I have previously described and type in the word 'approved' or 'dismissed' depending on what you want to look at.

:-)

As for the people from other countries who are reading this....this info might be pertinent to you as well in that the DC claims have been argued in many different ways.

Good luck and God Bless,

Anon

Dr. Lawrence Hurst did an update for the Workers Compensation Board on Dupuytren's in July 2000. 'Disclaimer' at the begining of the report is interesting because it says a person can challenge the content of the report and that the report has not be 'peer reviewed'.

To find it search the following words together:
"Workers Compensation Dupuytren's Contracture Hurst"

His sources can also be of value for those wanting to pursue more about DC in the workplace.

Anon

Hi Jim,

So sorry to hear of your attack. Regardless of how your doctor feels DC cases in Ontario have been approved by Workers Compensation when the DC appeared to be brought on by trauma in the work place. The approval had specific criterion:

No family history of DC
Age of onset not the usual....ie: 22 vs 48
Documented Trauma which immediately preceded the DC
and if I remeber correctly, no history of diabetes or epilipsy or alcoholism (double check before you quote me).

Having said all that I'm not sure if a DC claim would be considered now because there has been some advancement towards mapping the DC gene.

That being said, some women have the gene for breast cancer and get it. Some women have the gene for breast cancer and don't get it. Some women have no gene but get it anyways. Go Figure. Perhaps this is the same case with DC?

Anon