I could not believe the serious tone of this article.
I think I may stay at home and get paid as well…
In a previous incarnation I used to work in social housing. If you do not know what that is you are probably wearing a leash.
Every 3 months the carpets were steam cleaned to rid them of fleas and their eggs. If the organisation existed to help street sleepers and related I would not have been bothered. What annoyed me was they helped everyday everywhere people. Who had fleas.
I was disgusted.
Paul
…I mean, at the end of the day, even a bedbug`s gorra sleep somewhere! Jeeezzz! 
I guess it gives new meaning to
“Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”
Aw, crimony. PTSD from a bedbug? I’m no shrink, I have read the DSM-IV’s entry on PTSD, and I’m surprised that a few bedbug bites and a little workplace ribbing could generate that kind of diagnosis. Maybe there’s more to her story than just bedbugs, and the little insects constituted the proverbial last straw.
PTSD is deemed (supposedly), to be a result of enduring, what you perceive, as a life threatening situation. Thats the explanation I heard a psychiatrist give, in court . I hardly see bites from a bedbud being life threatening, unless of course there is a,known` severe allergic reaction involved.
vic
That’s in line with what I read in the DSM-IV.
It reminds me of a former client who was diagnosed with PTSD (hence my trolling through the DSM-IV). She was convinced that the workplace discrimination she endured was the cause of her PTSD. However, the diagnosing psychiatrist said that while her working conditions were awful and distressing, the source of her PTSD wasn’t the workplace - it was the abuse she endured as a child. That’s why I suspect there’s more to this story than just bedbugs.
Note that the bed bugs were not the fear. The “filthy people” were the problem.
A psyco-babyolgist I am not, but …
I find myself often thinking “they had it all together, if it happened to them…” or “they are just like me! might that be my destiny?”
That would be “life threatening” if we consider that “life” itself is a perception. Some think of life as merely a heart beat (which gives the pro-choice crowd a bit of a problem). Others consider life to be “state of affairs in which I exist” (which gives the pro-life crowd a bit of a problem). We must accept the second or we suddenly have significant issues with laws governing abortion and assisted suicide. Given that we can see bed bugs as a potential PTSD (or at minimum an indicator of a sate that could be a) inducer.
Just my $US.02.
Works for me on a human level, especially since I’d be pretty upset to find that anything creepy-crawly had invaded my home or my office. Crimony, you should see how my husband and I do battle against any 
carpenter ant that dares enter our domain, or how lavishly my husband rewards our cats with tuna whenever they dispatch a wayward mouse!
Unfortunately, when I’m in lawyer-mode, the judges make us stick to the DSM-IV. 
I think they look cute 
Ahh well, each to his or her own 
vic
Jacqi,
Wouldn’t a judge allow redirecting the focus from the actual “bed bugs” to the underlying fear? Then again PTSD is typically considered a physically induced psychological issue, so a psych cause would put it into some of other disorder. I really wish folks would quit trying to separate the psych and physical. they seem to closely bound to be separated the way most folks want them to be.
I wonder if we could get vic-k postings listed a PTSD inducers?
This lady is as likely to be suffering PTSD as much as I am of suffering menopause.
The reason her “diagnoses” was PTSD and not Scabiophobia dn Fear of Scabies was so she could lay the blame on someone else and seek reimbursement for her her own ailment.
Simply put she profits off of her own debilitating phobia and has the chance to receive a large sum of money and of course disability and the need to not ever work again, all because she retained a lawyer and filed a lawsuit which in her case probably costs little to no money and she is already being compensated by her employer.
Now what would have happened if she was truthfully diagnosed Scabiophobia dn Fear of Scabies?
She might receive mental disability from Social Services which would not add up to much at all.
In other words she would not receive the lavish lifestyle she feels she deserves for free.
As to PTSD, this is a condition that is widely and overly diagnosed daily because it is a 'scapegoat" for lazy doctors. In the old days PTSD was called SHELL SHOCK, and is usually related to situaitons of life threatening situations, violent acts or atrocities or the taking of or the loss of human life.
Not a shortness of breath or panic attack because of an underlying phobia condition.
The same can be said for A.D.D.
I call this the moronic diagnoses. A diagnoses of common symptoms of different ailments and not a diagnoses of the problem and not even close to finding a “cure”. This is a “money maker” for doctors because they prescribe a common drug (usually a mood balancer) which of course the patient must return to the doctor every month or so for a “renewed prescription” which of course they must paya co-pay and the insurance company must pay for the “additional” doctor visits. Like a drug dealer. Supplying the product so the consumer always returns instead of say writing a prescription that would last 6 months or a year…
ADD is like going to the doctor with flu like symptoms and your are worried that you might have pneumonia and the doctor looks at you, walks around the room for a few minutes and his prognosis is
You are sick.
You say “Well what am I suffering from?”
And he looks at you and says “It is obvious. You show all the signs of suffering from being sick.”
He then tells you that in order not be sick anymore you need to take a medicine that can not be bought over the counter but rather is prescribed by him. You of course would have to return every three months to get a new prescription of this medicine which will cost you a co pay at the time. All this medicine does is “mask” the symptoms but does nothing to “cure” them.
After all the doctor makes more money off of writing prescriptions repeatedly for years than he would actually make “solving” the problem.
A case in point.
Some people I know had a son who showed signs of “A.D.H.D” and they took their son to the doctor. They are used to the medical field becuase the ladies husband had some heart problems in the past and she had to serve a low-salt diet because of his condition.
The doctor spent very little effort in diagnosing the kid with of course “A.D.H.D.” and prescribed Ritalin.
The kid was on it for almost a whole year which of course cost a lot of money even though they were on an HMO. The kid also suffered some side effects from the medicine like headaches and irritability making him difficult to be around. When they asked their doctor he suggested that the side effects were worth the results since they were not that severe and that the medicine, although had some side effects, was helping his “A.D.H.D.”
I was talking with the lady one day and when she mentioned A.D.H.D. I just shook my head. She asked me what and I told her that I bet that the doctor that diagnosed the “A.D.H.D.” never gave a reason to what CAUSED the symptoms but rather just wrote a prescription to mask the symptoms instead of trying to find the cause and solve it. She said that was correct. I told her to go to another doctor and get a second opinion and when talking to the doctor if the doctor ever mentioned the term A.D.D. or A.D.H.D. to ask what was causing it.
She took her son to another Doctor and when she told her of the other doctor’s diagnoses and Ritalin prescription she told me the other Doctor just shook her head. The other doctor then sat down and ask a lot of questions about mental illness or any other medical conditions in the family. They talked for about an hour and the doctor took blood for a blood test.
A few days later she asked the woman to come in so she could talk with her.
WHen the lady sat down the doctor asked if because of her husbands previous heart conditions was she serving the whole family a low-salt diet or just her husbands. The lady said she was serving her whole family a low salt diet. The Doctor smiled and then told her that her son’s “A.D.H.D” was actually a minute chemical imbalance. His lithium levels were a little low. Lithium is salt.
The boy was suffering mania episodes becuase his body absorbed salt a little faster than normal and due to the low-salt diet he was not getting enough salt in his diet which was causing small mania episodes and some bouts of depression.
The final cure.
A salt shaker on the table…
/rant over
Sorry for the rant 
S’okay, Wock. We all need a little rant now and then.
Sorry, Jaysen - we’ve no leeway. At least not in Ohio.
this reminds me of a guy in windsor ontario (my city) who was suing for PTSD. his case was that he found 2 dad flies in a bottle of water. he wanteed $314,000. in damages… it went to the supreme court in canada and was shot down either last week or the week prior.
idiot
and wock, i’m sorry to hear about your menopause.
:mrgreen:
if your interested:
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/story.html?id=f5dbeb17-c75a-42e2-a435-0d8d0c132596
hope that works…
p.s: and Vic, i’m no entomologist, but i’m almost 100% positive that that is an ant…not a bed bug:p
or are they one in the same?
Here are some actual lawsuits that made me laugh so hard!
PIRATE BOOTY
Meredith Berkman, seeking $50 million, filed one of the first anti-fat lawsuits against the manufacturer of a snack food named Pirate’s Booty. It looks like eating too much Pirate’s Booty had added too much booty to Ms. Berkman’s booty.
In December, 2001, the Good Housekeeping Institute tested Pirate’s Booty, which is basically flavored puffed rice, and found that it contained 147 calories and 8.5 grams of fat, while its label said it contained only 120 calories and 2.5 grams of fat.
The manufacturer, Robert’s American Gourmet Foods (a subsidiary of Keystone Foods), blamed the problem on a change in its manufacturing process and immediately recalled the product from store shelves.
Nearly four months after the recall, Berkman filed a $50 million class-action lawsuit against Robert’s Foods, claiming “emotional distress” and “weight gain…mental anguish, outrage and indignation.” The complaint claims to represent all consumers who ruined their diets and had to spend more time at the gym because they ate mislabeled Pirate’s Booty.
NFL HALFTIME
A Tennessee banker believes the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXVIII went a little too far and has filed a class action lawsuit over Janet Jackson’s breast-baring incident at the conclusion of the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. The lawsuit was filed against Jackson, Justin Timberlake, MTV, CBS and the networks’ parent company, Viacom. Terri Carlin of Knoxville, Tennessee alleges in the suit that she and others who watched the Super Bowl halftime show suffered “outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury” because of the “sexually explicit conduct” of Jackson and Timberlake.
Carlin’s lawsuit seeks billions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages.
JACK ASS?
Montana man has sued media giant Viacom, saying the MTV show “Jackass” plagiarized his name, infringed on the trademark and copyright o his name and defamed his good character.
The plaintiff’s name is Jack Ass. That’s right, that is now his legal name. He changed his name from Bob Craft to Jack Ass in 1997, he says, in order to raise awareness about the dangers of drunken driving.
He’s seeking at least $10 million in damages.
DROPPED FROM THE TEAM
Two high school baton twirlers, who were cut from the majorettes program at North Haven High in Connecticut, haved filed a lawsuit suing the coach, the athletic director and the high school principal, claiming the majorette coach violated their civil rights by cutting them from the team without just cause.
The mothers of the twirlers hired a lawyer to argue that, under the 14th Amendment, being a majorette is a noncompetitive activity that shouldn’t exclude anyone. “We’re just protecting our rights,” said one of the mothers.
But the girls have no case, argues Robert Rhodes, a Halloran & Sage attorney representing the defendants. The girls tried out and didn’t make the squad because they simply weren’t good enough, he says. "This lawsuit is nothing more than legal blackmail," Rhodes says.
SWIMMING WITH ORCA
The parents of a man found naked and dead on the back of a killer whale at SeaWorld Orlando are suing the marine park, alleging the dangerous orca was portrayed as a huggable stuffed toy, according to a lawyer representing the family. Patricia and Michael Dukes of Columbia, S.C., filed suit September 10, 1999 in Orange County Circuit Court seeking several million dollars for pain and suffering at the loss of their only son, Daniel, 27, a drifter who drowned in July in a whale tank at the Florida theme park. Attorney Patricia Sigman said SeaWorld is legally liable because it portrayed the killer whale as human loving. After the naked corpse of Daniel Dukes was found in a tank with a killer whale at Florida’s SeaWorld, park officials determined that he had drowned after slipping past security and trying to swim with the whale. Claiming that the park should warn visitors that the animal could kill people who enter the water – aside from referring to it as ``killer’’ whale – just doesn’t hold water, does it?
I DESERERVE AN A+!
A high school senior says he earned an A+, not an A, and has sued to get the grade changed to bolster his chance at becoming valedictorian.
Brian Delekta, who finished 11th grade in 2002 as the top ranking student in his class, says he should have received an A+ for a work experience class in which he worked as a paralegal for his mother, Diane Delekta, in her Memphis law office.
Memphis schools recognize an A+ grade, but the county program in which Brian was enrolled recognizes an A as the highest grade.
Mrs. Delekta, who is representing her son in the lawsuit, argued Brian likely would be class valedictorian of his class if he received the A+ and ranked No. 2 or No. 3 if he received the A.
The lawsuit names the school principal, superintendent and all seven school board members as defendants. It ased to have the grade changed and to have class rankings blocked until the case is settled.
A St. Clair County judge denied the request and Brian was named salutatorian of his class.
HALLOWEEN TOO SCARY
A woman suing Universal Studios contends the theme park operator´s annual Halloween Horror Nights haunted house attraction was too scary and caused her emotional distress.
The lawsuit, brought by Cleanthi Peters, 57, also seeks compensation for injuries she says she suffered when she visited the haunted house with her 10-year-old granddaughter in 1998.
Peters is seeking $15,000 in damages for extreme fear, emotional distress and mental anguish.
DEFECTIVE PICKLE?
The McDonald’s fast food chain, often a target of goofy lawsuits, has settled a lawsuit brought by an American woman who claimed she was disfigured by an extremely hot pickle. That’s right – a hot pickle. Veronica Martin filed a lawsuit claiming $110,000 damages for medical bills, lost wages and mental pain and anguish. She claimed she suffered a second degree burn on her chin after a “scalding hot” pickle (not to be confused with scalding hot coffee) fell from one of several small hamburgers which she and her husband bought from a McDonald’s restaurant in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her husband, not to be left out of the action, also sued for $15,000, saying that he had been deprived of the services and companionship of his wife. The lawsuit contended that the pickle was “defective and unreasonably dangerous” to the customer.
Mr Eric,
I think youll find that little guy,is Jacqis pet Carpenter Ant.
If you ever find Bedbugs like that, you`ll probably be on another planet.
This little fellah is a bedbug <----- not him, this one:
This one isn’t a funny lawsuit, but a great order by an obviously exasperated judge.
There’s also an order out there by a federal judge in Texas, who commented with surprisingly good humor and infinite patience on how the lawyers in a particular case wrote some of their documents in crayon on the back sides of paper restaurant placemats. It’s hilarious, but I haven’t had any luck yet in finding a version that hasn’t been copyrighted by Westlaw. If I can find one, I’ll pass it along.
Presnell_order.pdf (26.6 KB)
By the way, the reason we do battle against the carpenter ants around here is that they have a nasty taste for lumber - namely, floor and roof joists, wall members, etc. 
So what you are saying is that to be a successful lawyer in Tampa you must be a competitive RPS player.
Looks like my son may have a bright future ahead of him…
But! Isn`t that just the wait should be done. 
Presnell_order.pdf
I actual posted a link for a page dealing with finding their nest and using poisoned bait to kill it off, but when I checked the link, it gave links to three million other sites, so I dumped it.
They go for damp wood, apparently. Jaysen`s wallet will probably be a legitimate target for them.
vic