Our client was married with two children. He enjoyed fishing and doing yard work. His two children were teenagers, and his wife was working from home in an administrative position.
Our client worked as a registered nurse for many years and lastly was the Clinical Nurse Unit Manager in the Emergency Department at a hospital. After more than 18 years in the workplace, he began noticing the high workload, pressures of the job and traumatic situations were affecting him. He struggled mentally and sought medical assistance, such as counselling and hypnotherapy treatment. Our client took time off at this stage to recover, but did not lodge a Workers Compensation claim at this time. To his credit, he returned to work but with difficulty.
Approximately a year later our client lodged a Workers Compensation claim due to his ongoing diagnosed psychological injuries. He ceased working altogether and unfortunately could not return to work.
Our client sought the assistance of our expert personal injury lawyers with respect to his Workers Compensation claim. As our client was told he would not be able to return to work, we discussed with him a Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) claim with his superannuation funds, of which he was a member of two (2) funds.
Total and Permanent Disability insurance is a benefit often provided in life-insurance policies as well as within superannuation plans. A request from his superannuation funds was sent through and upon receipt of the policies, our lawyers reviewed the policy definitions and noted our client was eligible to lodge a Total and Permanent Disability claim.
The definition to qualify for Total and Permanent Disability varies from policy to policy but generally the client is required, because of injury or illness, to be absent from all employment for 6 consecutive months and be incapacitated to such extent that it is unlikely they will ever again engage in employment (either on a full time or part time basis) for which they are reasonably qualified by reason of education, training, or experience.
The Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) claim usually involves the completion and lodgement of a member claim form, treating medical practitioners reports as well as an employer statement and other supporting documentation surrounding the client’s lack of ability to continue working.
Our experienced team members reviewed all the documents received in support of our client’s injuries, such as:
- all relevant medical records, reports, and documents from all treating medical practitioners,
- taxation records from prior to the date of incapacity to the present time.
The relevant information in support of his Total and Permanent Disability claim was compiled, and a claim was lodged with the superannuation fund. The superannuation fund reviewed the documents supplied for our client’s TPD claim and the claims were approved. Our client was awarded more than $1,000,000.00 in his TPD settlement.