Again Embracing Opioid Alternatives, Court Requires Employer to Reimburse Injured Worker’s CBD Oil Expenses

Last May, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, in Fegley v. Firestone Tire & Rubber, 291 A.3d 940, ruled that while the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA) does not require insurers to cover injured workers’ medical marijuana costs when insurers bill directly from ‘a dispensary, does require insurers to reimburse workers for medical marijuana out-of-pocket costs that are reasonable, necessary and related to their work-related injuries. I explained that in doing so, the Commonwealth Court opened up a new world of treatment options for injured workers in the state that could also reduce or eliminate future social costs imposed by the use and widespread opioid abuse.

Once again embracing opioid alternatives as pain treatment for injured workers, the Commonwealth Court recently decided in Schmidt v. treatment under the WCA because it was both a medical ‘supply’ and a ‘medicine’ under the WCA. The injured worker in the case was himself a workers’ compensation attorney who admitted in his court filings that the primary purpose of his case was to further develop the case law on reimbursement for CBD products under the WCA. mission accomplished

Injured Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Seeks Reimbursement for Using CBD Oil to Treat Her Pain