Hi
Hope that there is someone that would be able to give advice on the right course of action
My sister works at a lab drawing blood - while working with a difficult patient she had a needle prick accident. She did what she had to - report to safety officer - had herself tested immediately for HIV(tested negative) BUT did not take the ARV's on hearing and sifting the advice given.
3 Weeks later she fell ill and was diagnosed with acute bronchitis, she also informed the dr about the accident on which the dr retested for HIV - the test came back positive. The company director did not want to recognize/complete the IOD form and she was referred back to a her senior who gave her the form to complete. She told the senior member the form is for the company to complete where upon she was told to do it herself. This she then submitted through an independent person to speed up the process.
She has been given a workman compensation claim nr. I went with her to the workman compensation office as she is not in a frame of mind to understand the procedure. They told us that she still needs to submit copies of the negative and and positive test results. The company is not very keen and giving her copies and are also upset because she took the independent rout of submitting her claim.
There is a lot of "he said" "she said" around this matter - what I would like to know now is: 1. Is the claim legal with her completing and signing the IOD form that was given to her to complete because the way I read the form it is the employer that needs to complete and sign it. If not, how could this be corrected? 2. Due to all the animosity/trauma surrounding the incident she feels the need to seek employment elsewhere - is this advisable at this point in time?
She is still quite in denial and very depressed as she is a single parent (her daughter is 12) and staying with our elderly parents who are helping her raise her daughter when she is on duty. She can not afford the additional medical costs.
Advice would be greatly appreciated