Joe's story...

A 39 year old furniture removalist, Joe started his working days as a mechanic, but for the last 15 years he has been with two furniture removal companies.

About two years ago Joe started to get sore in his back.  One particular day the pain got bad, and he had some odd feelings in his legs.   His doctor sent him for physiotherapy and gave him tablets for the pain.

But the problem didn't improve.  After a few months Joe went back to work on modified duties.  He started a few hours a day and increased to 3 hours a day doing odd jobs around the warehouse.  Then one day the back pain got worse and his doctor put him off work.  His employer then said they didn’t have further modified duties. 

Over the next 12 months not much happened.  Joe waited for his back problem to improve while he continued the physio.   After a few months he saw a back specialist, who told him he didn't need an operation and to continue physiotherapy. 

Joe did, but became increasingly frustrated and isolated, he expected someone would be dealing with his case.  He still wasn't working.

At about 18 months his doctor referred him to a rehabilitation / pain management program.  He attended 2 to 3 times a week, having physio and hydrotherapy while also attending a psychologist.  Joe was put on a variety of pain tablets including opiates, and later on, antidepressants. By 20 months he was taking Panadeine Forte, Stilnox to  help him sleep, and occasionally a mid strength opiate Endone.

The rehab program continued for six months.  Joe says he was told to wait until the end of the program to assess what he could and could not do.  Towards then he was told that he could go back to work, provided he found a job where he was able to take breaks as needed. Joe was cleared fit to return to work five hours a day two days a week.

His work history included driving a tow truck and some truck driving. In some cases tow truck work is good for backs, because the driver is in an out of the cab and the physical demands are not too heavy. Nonetheless Jow was told that truck driving wasn't appropriate.

Two years in and Joe was supposed to be job seeking.  However, by now he was withdrawn, frustrated, angry, and even having difficulty dealing with his own family.  His wife was working full-time, yet doing most of the domestic tasks, the relationship was strained.  He minimised the time spent with his kids, being quick to anger.  

Joe was supposed to be looking for work, but this was eventually  suspended by Centrelink on the basis that he was too upset about being off work to be looking for a job.

What can we learn from Joe?

Joe is an everyday guy who suffered an everyday condition.  Up until the injury he had been a long serving and stable employee, he had worked consistently since leaving school. 

Joe wasn’t proactive in his approach to the situation. He is now inactive, unfit, isolated, angry and depressed.  Somewhere between copping an everyday medical condition and today, the system failed Joe badly.  In fact ‘the system’ has done him great harm.

We have all played a role in Joe’s downward spiral, from the Doctor who did not proactively get Joe back to work, to the passive treatment Joe received for his back pain.  From the claims approach that did not identify the issues earlier, to his employer not looking out for him.  And lastly, to a rehabilitation program that paid only lip service to vocational rehabilitation.

Furniture removalist work is hard on the back.  But there are many other jobs Joe could have move to when it was clear he could not go back to his normal job.

If this was a non-compensable injury, would the same thing have occurred?  If Joe was a professional footie player, would he have been out of the game for two years?

After two years Joe’s current mental state means the chance of returning to work is low and the chance of a court case settlement is high.

Are we laying it on thick about 'killing Joe'?  Actually, no.  If Joe stays off work in the long term the chances of isolation, depression, marriage breakdown, heart disease, smoking related disease, and some cancers increase.  The chance of Joe dying earlier than he would have goes up considerably.  Being off work in the long term is more dangerous to Joe's health than any of the defined 'dangerous' industries.

What could have been done?  Well, best evidence tells us Joe should have received:

1. Advice about his back problem that was enabling not disabling. There is a  50% reduction in long term disability after simple but comprehensive advice at eight weeks. 
2. Support to keep him motivated.  Getting Joe involved in his own future by helping him identify  other long term jobs, advice about his rates of compensation payments, job seeking diary, involve his wife and family. 
3. Problem solving training. Shown to have better outcomes for patients with back pain than medical treatment
4. Letting Joe know HE is the key to his own rehab, and that he should not to wait for others to take the lead. 

Joe is not an isolated case.  The human face of work injuries needs to be declared, discussed, and acknowledged so we stop killing Joe and people like him.