Worker's Opioid Dependency Produces Multiple Opinions, but Court Dodges Issue

The Michigan Supreme Court issued four separate opinions regarding an opioid-dependent worker’s eligibility for benefits, with a majority concluding the record was “too incomplete to facilitate meaningful appellate review.” Helen Jordan worked as a nurse for the Department of Mental Health. She suffered injuries in an altercation with a patient in 1995 and began collecting workers’ compensation benefits. Jordan complained of various pains in her back and legs, which left her unable to work. Her physicians began prescribing her opioid pain medication, on which she...