Mental Health Claims From Oil Spill Probably Won’t Be Paid - ProPublica

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Mental Health Claims From Oil Spill Probably Won’t Be Paid

by Sasha Chavkin

ProPublica, Today, 12:53 p.m.

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Feinberg, administrator of the BP Oil Spill Victim Compensation Fund,

testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on July 21. (Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty

Images)

BP's $20 billion fund to compensate those hurt by the Gulf oil spill will

probably turn down one controversial class of claims: those for mental health

problems.

In little-noted testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on July 21,

Feinberg, the independent " claims czar " who will decide who gets

compensated, said the fund was not likely to pay damages for mental illness and

distress alleged to be caused by the spill.

" If you start compensating purely mental anguish without a physical injury --

anxiety, stress -- we'll be getting millions of claims from people watching

television, " Feinberg said. " You have to draw the line somewhere. I think it

would be highly unlikely that we would compensate mental damage, alleged damage,

without a signature physical injury as well. "

Feinberg's policy will affect individuals and businesses with claims against BP,

but not claims by the government. Claims by state and local governments for the

costs of additional services will not be evaluated by Feinberg, and are handled

directly by BP.

As we've reported, the Louisiana health department has warned of a looming

mental health crisis in communities affected by the oil spill and is pressing BP

to pay for its costs. On July 9, health commissioner Alan Levine wrote to U.S.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that state counseling

teams were encountering " increases in anxiety, depression, stress, grief,

excessive and earlier drinking and suicide ideation " following the disaster. BP

has not yet responded to Louisiana's request that it pay $10 million to cover

the costs of emergency mental health services.

BP spokeswoman said that the calls for funding for mental health

services -- which have also been submitted by Mississippi, Alabama and Florida

-- have been requests rather than formal claims. She confirmed that the company

has not yet responded to the requests.

While Feinberg's standard is separate from BP's policy on requests or possible

claims by states, it shows that he is following the guidelines set by liability

law. Tort law generally holds that mental health problems must be accompanied by

a physical injury to merit compensation, Owen, a law professor at the

University of South Carolina, has told us.

However, Congress could direct Feinberg to expand the type of damages that his

fund will cover. When Rep. Sheila Lee, D- Texas, pointedly asked him at

the July 21 hearing if he would cover damages such as mental health if Congress

passed a law requiring it, Feinberg replied that he would.

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