We have a bit of a story here at WCInsights for our Friday readers. A firefighter in Arkansas fractured his foot when he was so startled by a nightmare he was having that he jumped out of bed at the firehouse and fractured his foot. He sought workers’ compensation benefits but his claim was denied.

Shawn Seth Hansen worked as a firefighter and an emergency medical technician for the City of Siloam Springs in Arkansas. He worked 24 hour shifts and was required to stay on site unless he had to go out for work-related reasons. He was encouraged to sleep at night at the firehouse. During one of his shifts he was having a bad dream, he felt like spiders were crawling on him. He jumped out of bed and injured his foot, fracturing his left fifth metatarsal which required surgery to fix it.

The Workers’ Compensation Commission affirmed an earlier decision by an administrative law judge which denied Hansen benefits. He appealed, but the Arkansas Court of Appeals also denied his claim, ruling his injury an “idiopathic” injury and not work-related.

Read more here.