New Law will Cover PA Responders' Care for Job-Related PTSD

Currently, a responder has to show their injury was the result of "objective abnormal working conditions," an all-but-impossible standard, a union official said.

By Dan Nephin

Source LNP, Lancaster, Pa. (TNS)

Aug. 5, 2025

2 min read

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A new Pennsylvania law takes effect Oct. 29 that will provide workers' compensation coverage for first responders who develop job-related post-traumatic stress injuries.

Under the law, first responders who develop a traumatic injury related to a qualifying traumatic event and receive a diagnosis by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist are eligible for coverage.

According to the law, qualifying traumatic events are events:

—Resulting in serious bodily injury or death to another individual.

—Involving a minor who has been injured, killed, abused or exploited.

—Involving an immediate threat to the life of the injured worker or another individual.

—Involving mass casualties.

—Involving responding to crime scenes for investigations.

Claims must be filed within three years of a diagnosis and the underlying incident can't have occurred before Oct. 29, 2019 — covering the five years before Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the legislation.

Under the current law, a responder has to show their injury was the result of "objective abnormal working conditions," an all-but-impossible standard, according to the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association, which represents professional EMTs and paramedics.

State Rep. Jennifer O'Mara, D- Delaware County, whose father was a Philadelphia firefighter who died by suicide, introduced the legislation, which passed last year as a bill introduced by Republican Camera Bartolotta, of Washington County. According to O'Mara's office, 26 states have similar laws.

Lancaster city police Sgt. Todd Grager, who is involved with first-responder mental health care, called the law "a huge step in the right direction in trying to break the stigma of mental health and law enforcement ... Basically, it's going to remove that piece of: 'I as a person am broken, and understand that I as an officer am broken based off of what I've seen as a result of this job,' " he said.