Workman's comp comes two days too late to save a life

Suicide Victim's Estate Sues Over Insurance Claim
By Joe Wojtas
Published on 12/29/2008

Stonington — Derek Berube of Pawcatuck had begun his apprenticeship as a custom sailmaker at Halsey-Lidgard Sailmakers in Old Mystic in 2005 when a sail tack came loose and embedded in his left eye.

The 21-year-old Berube was temporarily blinded and needed two surgeries to restore some of his sight. He was left with two-thirds of the vision in the eye and a blind spot in the center of it.

Because of the surgery, Berube's physician stopped the immunosuppressive medication he took to control his Crohn's disease. The Crohn's symptoms returned and Berube had to spend 19 days in the hospital where portions of his small intestine and bowels were removed. He also had a temporary ileostomy, a surgical procedure in which a portion of small intestine is connected to an external pouch.

The temporary blindness left Berube, who graduated with high honors from the American School for the Deaf in 2001, unable to read lips, which was his primary means of communication.

These factors caused him to suffer from severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. He filed a workers' compensation claim, but the insurer, Hartford Fire Insurance Co., better known as The Hartford, denied his claim. On June 5, 2007, Berube committed suicide at his home. He was 24 years old.

Two days later the state Workers' Compensation Commission found that Berube was entitled to workers' compensation and that the insurance company had unreasonably contested his claim of psychological injury.

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