Healthcare Workers suffer job injuries at a much higher rate than the general populace

The attached article states that “[t]he rates of workplace violence in health care and social assistance settings are five to 12 times higher than the estimated rates for workers overall, according to a Government Accountability Office report from last year… [and] when it comes to attacks, more than 75 percent of the nurses questioned in a recent survey said they had been abused — physically and verbally, by patients, those trying to get to patients or family members — on the job.”  If you or a family member works in the Healthcare industry, this is not surprising news as-  according to the American Journal of Critical Care- every day approximately 9000 healthcare workers sustain a serious injury while performing their job duties.

Through the years my partner and I have represented many nurses, certified nursing aides, technicians, etc. in workers’ compensation cases where they suffered traumatic back injuries while assisting a patient out of the bathroom, or trying to assist them take a shower or some similar activity which their job requires countless times a day, so we were not shocked by this information, but we were surprised to find out that according to the U.S. Department of Labor, in 2000 healthcare industry workers sustained 4.5 times more work related back injuries than any other industry. According to government statistics, six of the top 10 professions at the greatest risk for back injuries were: certified nursing assistants (CNA), licenses practical nurses, registered nurses, health aides, radiology technicians and physical therapists.

In the United States, back injuries account for approximately 24% of all on the job injuries, and a large number of these of injuries happen to health care workers such as certified nursing assistants (CNA), licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, health aides, radiology technicians and physical therapists.

Healthcare workers spend their entire carriers helping others; if you are a health care worker in Alabama and you have suffered a job related injury, to your back or otherwise, be sure to take care of yourself. Contact an experienced Alabama Job Injury attorney- contact Powell and Denny today.

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Offices in Hoover, Alabama and Huntsville, AL

Powell and Denny have been selected as one of the Best Law Firms by U.S. News and World Report for each of the last 5 years, have been selected as one of Birmingham’s Top Lawyers by B-Metro Magazine for the last 3 years, have been selected by The National Advocates as one of the Top 20 Workers’ Compensation Firms (plaintiffs) and Powell and Denny, P.C.-has been selected as one of the “Best of the Best” law firms by The American Registry.

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