Work Injuries, Chronic Pain and the Harmful Effects of WorkSafeBC/WCB Compensation Denial: A Policy Brief

Reviews the experiences of nine patients dealing with chronic pain and WorkSafeBC (formerly the Workers’ Compensation Board). One of the authors (Cecil Hershler), a physician, selected these patients as examples from thousands of patients over the past 25 years who had sought medical help for chronic pain. The authors explored a complex medical and social problem by listening to, summarizing and analyzing patient narratives and then identifying a number of common themes and issues. The authors suggest that these themes and issues point to a need for policy changes for the compensation of injured workers.