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actibus_consequatur t1_j7tdfr8 wrote

Reply to comment by washingtonpost in How the NFL avoids paying disabled players — with the union’s help by washingtonpost

On the brighter flipside, is disabled pitcher Matt LaChappa:

In 1996, while warming up in the bullpen to enter what would have been the first game of his season as a relief pitcher, LaChappa collapsed and suffered a heart attack. The Quakes athletic trainer performed CPR on LaChappa for 20 minutes until he was taken to a local hospital. At the hospital, he suffered a second heart attack. LaChappa survived, but suffered brain damage from the lack of oxygen and is mostly confined to a wheelchair and has difficulty moving and speaking. Since the incident, the Padres organization has signed him yearly to a basic Minor League contract so that he can maintain his health insurance.

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eric2332 t1_j7tl2qw wrote

I'm surprised that's necessary. The heart attack occurred while he was working and likely at least partly as a consequence of his work. Shouldn't his care be covered under routine workplace insurance?

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actibus_consequatur t1_j7tseu3 wrote

The wiki article doesn't explain, but the article it references does:

“What happened,” says Priscilla Oppenheimer, the Padres’ director of minor-league operations, “is that he had a virus around his heart. He’d just undergone a physical, too, but something like that can only be picked up on an ecocardiogram.”

I'm NAL, but with the presence of the virus, I'd think both workplace insurance and workers' comp would've been very combative over the claim, especially since it happened while he was only warming up which is far less stressful than actual gameplay. His family could (and maybe did) fight and so they are possibly getting some additional income from it, but I'm not sure how well the protections and such were almost 30 years ago.

Also, on top of the Padres still employing him, they apparently released him from having to repeat the bonus he got for the contract he couldn't fulfill, so that's pretty decent too.

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confirmd_am_engineer t1_j7tz5ea wrote

Not necessarily. You can still suffer personal medical issues while at work. In order to be work-related you would need to prove that your job caused the heart issue. For someone like Demar Hamlin that’s pretty easy, but for many others it’s not so cut and dried.

This happens a lot in other industries too. I actually had an employee with suspected cardiac issues at work yesterday. They were taken offsite to a hospital. It’s been filed as a personal medical issue.

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coronavirusrex69 t1_j7v60zw wrote

most people who have heart attacks at work are covered forever via insurance? i don't think that's how it works, but maybe i'm wrong??

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