Question:
I am preparing to go to court on a disability discrimination and
work-stress related law suit against my employer after several years of
trying to obtain reasonable accommodation and adequate assistance to
perform my job as a social worker properly. My attorney has asked that
i try to locate any stress research articles that link MS and stress to
exascerbations, several of which I have had during the past year due to
the way I am now treated at work as they try to get rid of me in spite
of very positive evaluations and commendations there for eleven years.
I have read many posts confirming that they feel stress triggers
exacerbations, but I need respected journal articles, research studies
to use in court to connect the two. I did get a copy of the Stanford
study done in March showing stress as causing brain lesions in MS. Does
anyone know of some specific articles, authors or studies that have
supported this theory? My career depends upon it. Any suggestions,
titles, researchers or authors who haws written about stress and MS
would be greatly appreciated as I prepare my case. Maybe employers will
learn how they treat disabled employees with disrespect and slowly try
to force them out the door by gradually taking our self-respect away
and that we are SERIOUS about our rights under the ADA. Thank you!! I
have a deposition scheduled for June 24 so the sooner the better if
anyone can give me some cites on this issues.
Answer:
I can't give you certainties, but I found some correlating articles
on the web. THey are not concrete proof, but at least one of them is a court
case where trauma was found to cause an exacerbation, and trauma and stress
go hand in hand.
British Court Case:
http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/ca/97/03/c97-0395.txt
Ooh, wait, I found an article that may be useful:
Grant I, Brown GW, Harris T, et al: Severely threatening events and marked life difficulties preceding
onset of exacerbation of multiple sclerosis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psych 1989;52:8-13.
This previous one was in relation to this article:
http://www.ucsd.edu/data/campus/department/academic/medicine/faculty/...
Here's one from the NMSS:
http://www.nmss.org/cmsi/ecs6034.html
http://www.nmss.org/cmsi/cmsi16.html
Not dealing strictly with MS but with stress and neurological problems:
http://www.appi.org/bookmonth/mw07.html
See question 1.7 on the MS FAQ:
http://www.wellweb.com/index/qmsfaq.htm
Jackpot! I just found an article you will LOVE to use!
http://aspin.asu.edu/msnews/researchstress.htm
I've excepted sections of that report below in order to direct
your attention to the comments which may help get more
information if you hurry.
The report refers to "previous studies" and gives the names
and location of the rsearchers invoved in this study. I suggest that
you immediately fax the researchers a request for a list of the
previous research reports they found when the researched the
medical research literature for their project. Researchers check
for previous research before starting their own project, so
they should have a list in their project papers.
The researchers are both located at the: MS Center at
UCSF/Mount Zion. you could call for their fax numbers.
You might ask for an immediate fax return. Talking to them
by phone might be your best way to get immediate information.
Try http://www.ifmss.org.uk/newpwms/frame-stresslink.htm
This site shows studies and study results linking stress with MS
exaserbations.
