Nurse to Receive Substantial Lifting Injury Compensation

A nurse in Australia has won her claim for lifting injury compensation, and been awarded AU 500,000 dollars by a jury at the Victoria Supreme Court.

Margaret Pozzobon (58) from Nanawading, Melbourne, was employed by the Wantirna Aged Care Facility as a care nurse until February 2006, when she sustained severe cervical spine injuries during a night shift duty. The injury was due to lifting a resident of the facility who was known to suffer from bipolar disorder and was inclined to strip his bed and lie on the floor.

On the night Margaret sustained her injury, she was the only member of staff on duty and it was on the sixth occasion that she placed the resident back into bed that her injury occurred. Margaret´s injuries meant that she had to undergo surgery and she still has to be administered with spinal injections and nerve blocks because of the pain she still experiences.

After seeking legal advice, Margaret made a claim for occupational health compensation, claiming that the elderly resident should have been placed in a high care facility, in which case her injury would never have happened. The care facility disputed her claim and Margaret took her case to Victoria Supreme Court where, after an eight day civil trial, a jury found in her favour.

The AU 500,000 dollars award of lifting injury compensation is in respect of the pain and suffering that Margaret experienced at the time of her injury and during her treatment, the loss of earnings she has incurred since February 2006 and is the future as she is no longer able to work because of her disability, and to compensate the former nurse for the deterioration in her quality of life.