Suicide attempts could be rewarded

By JO-MARIE BAKER
Proposed changes to ACC laws will encourage more people to try to commit suicide or harm themselves, the Bay's health board believes.
The current law allows ACC to fund medical treatment for people who willfully self-inflict injuries.
But under a new government proposal, the organisation could also provide weekly compensation, lump-sum payments and other entitlements.
In its submission on the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Bill (No.2), the Bay of Plenty District Health Board strongly opposes the idea.
"The proposed change will provide entitlements and incentives for individuals who wilfully self-inflict injuries. It actually provides an incentive for individuals to self harm," the submission says.
Providing financial entitlements in such circumstances was inconsistent with the aim of the ACC scheme, which was to be fair, sustainable, and minimise the incidence and impact of injuries.
The health board said any such law change would encourage people to harm themselves, resulting in more injuries, an unfair burden on other levy payers and an "unsustainable cost on the scheme".
Other proposed ACC changes have also came under fire in their submission, including introducing cover for work-related mental injuries.
When the bill was first introduced to Parliament before Christmas, ACC Minister Maryan Street said cover would be extended to help people who were exposed to a sudden traumatic event during their employment.
"This means that, for example, a train driver whose train hits someone on the tracks, or a bank worker who witnesses a colleague shot during a robbery and goes on to develop a mental injury as a result, will now be covered by the ACC scheme," Ms Street said.
Treatment and rehabilitation would be provided to help the person get back to work, and the change was "a major and progressive" development for ACC. It was also in line with cover offered in many other countries, she said.
But the Bay's health board opposes the move, saying it will create inequality.
"If an individual suffers mental injury from witnessing a traumatic event whilst in the course of their employment, they will be covered. However, if another individual witnesses the same event, but are not in paid employment, or not at work at the time, they will not be covered."
The health board has urged the Transport and Industrial Relations select committee to carry out wider consultation before reporting back to Parliament by May.
A further proposal to pay an employee 100 per cent of their pre-injury earnings while they worked part-time, was also criticised.
At present 80 per cent of a person's wage or salary was paid, providing an incentive for an injured worker to return to fulltime employment.
The health board suggests people will try to persuade their GPs to postpone issuing them a fully-fit certificate.
Opposition ACC spokesperson, Pansy Wong, told the Bay of Plenty Times the National Party did not support the bill.
"If a fire was attended by both a professional firefighter and a voluntary one, we could end up with two totally different treatments.
"The professional one would be entitled to compensation and the volunteer would be entitled to nothing. That's an absolute nonsense."