The Wall Street Journal - February 5, 1996
Frances A. McMorris, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

In her sexual-harassment lawsuit, she sought damages not just for her supervisor's behavior but for its emotional aftermath: A psychiatrist, testifying on her behalf at the trial, said she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Can extreme duress on the job touch off the same kind of emotional symptoms as battle fatigue? Ms. Webb is among a growing number of plaintiffs arguing that it can. The psychological disorder, best known for the combat flashbacks experienced by many Vietnam veterans, has begun to figure in cases of job discrimination, medical malpractice and other liability claims.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is "an illness that's only recently been recognized as a compensable injury," in tort cases, says Ms. Webb's lawyer, Anne Fraser of Washington. In Ms. Webb's case, the jury awarded $300,000 in damages.

But some judges and juries are skeptical. A federal judge in Washington wouldn't allow a black graphic artist to claim post-traumatic stress disorder in a race- and sex-discrimination case she brought against her former employer, the American Broadcasting Co. unit of Capital Cities/ABC Inc.

"Serious threats to life or limb like kidnapping, torture or murder may trigger" post-traumatic stress disorder, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled in 1994. "Ugly and inexcusable sexist and racist jokes and insults -- although deplorable -- generally do not." The case was settled out of court in December; terms weren't disclosed.

Some defense lawyers contend that the disorder is often used by plaintiffs as a ploy to win higher damages than they might with vaguer psychological claims.

"It's a plaintiff's way, in part, of alleging emotional-distress damages in a more dramatic way, especially in front of a jury," says Michael Lotito, a management defense lawyer in San Francisco.

The rise in post-traumatic stress claims has coincided with a change in federal job-discrimination laws. Since 1991, plaintiffs in job-bias cases have been able to seek monetary damages for emotional distress, including potentially large punitive damages intended to punish or deter wrongdoing. Before, they could receive only back pay or reinstatement, even if they claimed they had suffered emotional distress.

But establishing a diagnosis -- and proving cause and effect -- can be troublesome. Defendants facing claims for post-traumatic stress disorder typically have their own designated psychiatrist examine the plaintiff. And even if these experts confirm the diagnosis, they often scour a plaintiff's life, looking for other traumas that could have triggered the condition.

Consider the case of Raymond Machesney, a former priest who learned he'd been misdiagnosed as HIV-positive after going through seven years of treatment for harboring the AIDS virus. In his medical-malpractice lawsuit, he sought damages for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The doctor's lawyer argued that Mr. Machesney's emotional distress could have been caused by other factors, such as leaving the priesthood, according to David Curtin, a Washington attorney who represented Mr. Machesney.

Last year, a federal jury in Washington awarded Mr. Machesney $4.1 million. A judge later reduced the award to $2 million.

Mental-health professionals say post-traumatic stress disorder can arise after someone experiences a physical threat, or witnesses another person being attacked or violently threatened. Victims often have persistent flashbacks or nightmares about the traumatic event.

The disorder has been recognized by doctors since at least the Civil War. In both world wars, they called it combat fatigue or shell shock. Since the Vietnam War, when the current name came into vogue, the diagnosis has sometimes been extended to victims of violent attacks, kidnappings and disasters, as well as to those suffering from a life-threatening disease.

In a number of recent liability cases, courts have permitted victims of attacks in offices, hotels or restaurants to sue the property owners on the grounds that they had developed post-traumatic stress disorder.

But now the ailment also is cropping up in contentious workplace cases. After finding last year that a pattern of sexual harassment existed at the Washington Department of Corrections, a jury weighing damages in the class action heard four of the eight plaintiffs claim post-traumatic stress disorder.

Three women testified that their supervisor's sexual advances caused them to have recurrent nightmares, or made them afraid to answer their phones. Another plaintiff was a male Vietnam veteran who had allegedly become a target of retaliation after helping the women complain about the harassment. He testified that he had relapsed into alcoholism and had suffered wartime flashbacks for the first time in more than 15 years. All four either wept or had to take breaks when they testified.

Lawyers for the Department of Corrections asserted that the post-traumatic stress disorder could have had other origins. Delving into the plaintiffs' backgrounds, they cited abusive adult relationships and childhood sexual abuse as other possible causes, according to the plaintiffs' lawyer, Joseph Sellers of Washington. They blamed the man's psychological problems on his combat experience, he says.

The jury awarded $1.4 million in damages for emotional harm to seven of the plaintiffs, including all of those diagnosed with post-traumatic stress.

"It's like combat within the workplace," Mr. Sellers says. The Corrections Department has filed an appeal.

960205
WJ960202

Copyright © 1996 - The Wall Street Journal. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the WSJ Permissions Desk.

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1996. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 1996. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .