PTSD as an occupational disease in emergency medical services
Employees in the emergency medical services and other first responders of any kind, but also the majority of medical and nursing professionals, are frequently confronted with death and serious injuries or illnesses in the course of their work. Therefore, the question arises as to whether even low-threshold non-traumatic events can cumulatively lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and thus be comparable to an occupational disease establishing an entitlement to compensation.
The German Federal Social Court has issued a ruling on this matter which refers to a recent meta-analysis of the literature. However, detailed analysis shows that the PTSD prevalences rates described refer to different time periods, to a considerable extent correlate inversely to the size of the study group and depend on whether the data was collected via questionnaire or personal interview. There are also indications that competing factors such as difficult working conditions are of comparable importance to stressful occupational experiences. The conclusion of the meta-analysis, according to which emergency medical Service employees have an almost seven-fold increased risk of PTSD compared to the general population, cannot be supported.
