Newtown first responders may not get enough time to heal

After Newtown Shootings, Push On To Expand Workers' Compensation For First-Responders December 21, 2012
By DAVE ALTIMARI and JON LENDER
The Hartford Courant

In light of the Newtown school massacre, a state lawmaker said Friday that he will propose legislation to expand the circumstances in which emergency responders can receive workers' compensation.

"This is something that I've already discussed," said Rep. Stephen D. Dargan, D-West Haven, the co-chairman of the legislature's public safety committee. "I'm sure right after the holiday that this is going to be one of the bills that I am going to issue" for consideration in the session that starts Jan. 9.

The idea of expanding the workers' compensation law has been discussed before, with a big concern being the potential cost, Dargan said. "But if you limit the scope of it" to the sort of dire circumstances encountered by police at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Dargan said it might be possible.

For several years, state law has provided workers' compensation benefits to pay for counseling for police officers who are mentally or emotionally impaired by "use of deadly force or subjection to deadly force in the line of duty." Earlier this year, legislators added a similar provision for firefighters who witness the death of another firefighter on duty.
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