Tuberculosis, Hep C and Illinois workers' compensation

Within the last week we have received a call from an emergency room doctor that has tuberculosis and a nurse that has hepatitis C.  They both obviously spend their work days around sick people, many of whom have contagious diseases.  The nurse has been stuck by many needles and been in surgical situations where blood was everywhere.  The ER doctor works in a low income area where people don't have health insurance and often treat the ER as if it's the family doctor because service can't be denied.

Neither can pinpoint a specific date in which they got sick and neither can 100% prove that it was their job that caused the illness.  So how do they get workers' compensation benefits and when is the accident date?

In absence of a specific accident, the accident date is when you knew or reasonably should have known that your problem might be work related.  This is likely the date you got diagnosed.  As for proving that it is work related, it's almost impossible to show for sure that the job was the cause, but you can show that it likely was and that's all you need to do.

The best way to prove a case like this is to have you credibly testify as to what you do for work and what you do out of work.  Take the nurse for example.  If she testifies that 40 hours a week she is working with patients and is often exposed to blood, has been stuck with needles and is generally around sick people, that helps her case. If she (honestly) testifies that in her free time she hangs out with her family, goes bowling and to church, that helps her case. 

But if she were to (again honestly) testify that in her spare time she has lots of sexual partners or regularly shoots up heroin or has been getting lots of blood transfusions for an unrelated illness then it hurts her case.

It is up to the Arbitrator to determine that more likely than not your job was the cause of your problem.  By looking at your whole life experience, not just your work life, we can usually determine how the Arbitrator will decide your case.

This is another example that being honest gives you the best chance of a good result.  If you testify that you do nothing but go to Church and work, but the defense brings in a witness that says you take drugs with them all the time you will look like a liar and will lose your case.