Boston Firefighter bodybuilding on disability

No it’s not a feel good story, but one of wanton criminality.

A Boston Fire fighter has failed to return to work, after being ordered back by the department. Albert Arroyo was on disability since April.

Albert Arroyo had filed for a disability pension in April, claiming he suffered a career-ending back injury. But in May, he competed in a national bodybuilding competition.

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On May 3, just 15 days after [Dr John F.] Mahoney decided Arroyo could no longer work, the firefighter competed in a national bodybuilding competition and finished eighth.

Seems clear to me he was fine.

The Doctor who diagnosed him has defended his diagnosis.

“If someone is doing bodybuilding and doesn’t tell me, how the hell would I know?” said [Dr John F.] Mahoney when the Globe asked him Friday about Arroyo, a professional bodybuilder since 2003.

Dr Mahoney has a great deal of experience with the Boston Fire Department. Maybe too much experience?

Mahoney is no stranger to firefighters with back and spine injuries. He was the Fire Department’s in-house medical officer for two years in the early 1980s. And city records made available to the Globe under a public records request indicate that since 2001, Mahoney has seen 25 firefighters whose injuries he determined to be so severe that the city should award them accidental disability pensions. Of the 25 firefighters, 21 have had their disability pensions approved; four others are awaiting final approval.

Not sure how this compares to other Fire departments. Seems odd that so many people are going to him. Then again maybe the Union is feeding him patients.

One question that has left many perplexed is why nearly 75 percent of all firefighters who retired between 2005 and 2007 received accidental disability pensions, many of them after languishing on injured leave, at 100 percent of their pay, tax-free, for several years. Their pensions, once approved, guarantee them 72 percent of their pay, also tax-free. Boston’s disability rate is three times greater than other large cities.

Ok, well that clears that up. Three times greater, seems a bit out of line.

With Mahoney’s letter, Arroyo filed for the disability pension in April. On May 21, Fire Commissioner Roderick J. Fraser Jr., citing the bodybuilding, asked the Boston Retirement Board to reject the application. The board, in turn, wrote Mahoney to ask if he stood by his diagnosis. Mahoney, without answering that question, responded on June 23 that he did not know Arroyo was a bodybuilder.

Yea right. People with back injuries are always buff.

“I knew my practice would be destroyed. I accept that,” Mahoney said. “I am prepared to get [expletive]. . . . Holy [expletive]. I am [expletive] and it was in the stars.”

He added: “I’m going to look like a foolish doc getting money from the city, knowing someone’s a bodybuilder and writing a letter that he’s disabled, and not knowing he’s a scam artist.”

Well if the shoe fits …

Even so, Mahoney said that were it not for the restrictions imposed on him by the doctor-patient relationship, people would understand that his diagnosis was legitimate. But he acknowledged that the firefighters back problems may have resulted from the strict weightlifting regimen that bodybuilders follow and might not be job-related.

What? Wait … if he is bodybuilding then he has no back injury. This Doc needs to be put out of business.

So what is the tough job that Arroyo wants to escape?

The Fire Department quickly shifted Arroyo from injured leave at full pay and tax-free, to sick leave. Last Thursday, Fraser ordered Arroyo to show up today for his job as a fire inspector. If he does not, he faces possible

Wait, he is a Fire Inspector and he wants to not work anymore? Come on, stick this guy on a truck.

The Arroyo case has further fueled criticism over alleged fire department pension abuses, which in April spawned a federal grand jury investigation.

Just another corrupt Union run Government Organization.