Harrison County Deputy Michael Freeman, gets a kiss from his granddaughter Hallie, 7, who refers to him as “Papa” Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013, in Marshall.
Freeman, is now a quadriplegic and ventilator-dependant six years after a car crash he was involved in during a high-speed chase.
Freeman is the victim of a worker’s compensation system that routinely denies him benefits — causing him and his family further medical problems and suffering.( Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle )
Workers’ comp red tape impedes those who need help the most. By Patricia Kilday Hart
It is shameful the way our Worker’s Compensation system in Texas treats injured employees. This article highlights the dilemmas facing a public servant who was injured while risking his life to protect other Texans.
What I find to be shocking is that the system participants are shocked at the way this man has been treated. The problems highlighted in this article are systemic to the Texas Worker’s Compensation system and have been getting worse for well over 10 years now.
I am slightly encouraged by the fact that injured workers and their families are finally recognizing that insurance companies and their elected Texas officials are running roughshod over the rights of injured Texas employees.
Texas employees are our most valuable resource. We should do better as a society to protect them.
LT
It is ridiculous that this man could not get the help he needed. I could barely make it through the article. Makes me sick to my stomach that a man in this condition – a Deputy Sheriff no less – could not get something as simple as a wheelchair.