Most people recover from covid-19. Some have to struggle for a while. Most of them still get up and back to work. But not all. Trond was infected with corona in his job as a prison guard. A couple of months later, the 54-year-old was told that he had contracted pulmonary fibrosis. With him out the door from the hospital, he got a brochure which he took out when he got home. – Of course I was shocked when I read that you live three and a half to five years with the disease. Hardly compensation Trond has applied to have pulmonary fibrosis approved as a covid-19 covid-19 covid-19 covid-19 covid-19 covid-19 covid-19 covid-19 covid-19 covid-19 covid-19’s covid-19 covid-19 covid-19’s covid-19 covid-19 covid-19 covid-19 covid-19’s covid-19 covid-19’s covid-19 covid-19 and covid-19’s covid-19. He has never had a problem with his lungs before. Nevertheless, the doctors believe that his lung disease does not come from corona. They think he has had a lung disease before. In the specialist statement from Oslo University Hospital it is stated: “…probably that the patient had a previously unknown interstitial lung disease before COVID infection, even if there are no CT images from before COVID that can verify this” This came as a great surprise to Trond Muggerud, who have been to several check-ups in hospitals. – All the doctors I have spoken to say that they cannot rule out that covid has caused fibrosis. Karl Færden, senior physician, Oslo University Hospital. Photo: Bjørn Atle Gildestad / news May miss out on compensation Senior doctor Karl Færden at Oslo University Hospital is responsible for the conclusion related to Muggerud’s illness. It is based on input from several pulmonologists and radiologists. Færden says they do not approve of Trond’s fibrosis as a secondary disease, and therefore not an occupational disease either. They believe that the CT images taken by Muggerud are not compatible with what is otherwise seen as a condition following a covid-19 infection. When asked whether the wording, “likely” and “cannot… verify”, should not be to the patient’s advantage, he says: – You can say that it can be, yes. And it is unusual for such a young man to develop pulmonary fibrosis, the exact cause of which is not known. It usually comes at a slightly older age, in the 60s and 70s, and he is in his 50s. So there is uncertainty associated with this from my point of view. – On the basis of that uncertainty, isn’t it a bit bold to conclude as they do? – Yes maybe. Yes, I might agree with that. But on the other hand, we have to relate to the medical knowledge that exists today, and to what those who are specialists in the field conclude. And then that will be the conclusion we have to arrive at, says Færden. Færden confirms that it is a discretionary assessment by the doctors who assess the lung condition, both based on clinical experience and what is done by systematic scientific work. For Trond Muggerud, the conclusion the doctors have arrived at may mean NOK 0 in compensation, and it may also mean NOK 0 in occupational injury compensation. Approved occupational injury will be able to give him well over a million kroner from the occupational injury insurance. – I have two daughters that I want to help. That is my main goal, he says. Campingliv news meets Trond Muggerud outside his new home, a caravan with a nail tent on the banks of the idyllic Tyrifjorden in Ringerike. Muggerud moved here when the flat he lived in was to be sold. From the carriage we hear music from the radio. But life is no idyll for Trond. For several reasons, his personal finances are so weak that he cannot afford to buy a house or flat. Therefore, a caravan for a few tens of thousands was the solution. Here he has enough to care for his soul and illness. He has left the fight for compensation and insurance payments to his lawyer. Trond Muggerud despairs over the pulmonologists who believe he had a lung disease before he got corona. Photo: Bjørn Atle Gildestad Trond was one of nine officers in Drammen prison who became infected with corona in November 2020. He was isolated for ten days, was tired, tired with a cough, headache and fever. He was dizzy and nauseous, and on sick leave until he started a new job on 1 December of the same year. – Then I was as sick as I have never been before. I lay there for three weeks, and couldn’t bear anything. It was really tough. Terrible, quite simply, says Trond. After the virus was out of the body, the GP declared him healthy, and Trond moved to Arendal where he had got a job in the new Agder prison in Froland. – In retrospect, I see that with the new job I got a boost. But it only lasted a few weeks, and then I couldn’t do anything. I hardly remember being there. Can’t remember who I worked with. I walked around in the fog. Trond Muggerud has realized that pulmonary fibrosis is here to stay, but is disappointed that it is not recognized as an occupational disease. Photo: Bjørn Atle Gildestad – Ten per cent on the battery He again consulted his GP who sent him for an X-ray examination. There the doctor found something he didn’t like and sent Trond on to the lung department at Arendal Hospital and ordered a CT scan. There he was told that he had pulmonary fibrosis. – Did you know what it is? – No. He was called off sick and never returned to work in Agder prison. That is why he moved back to his home town of Drammen. His mood varies between bitterly sighing over the specialist’s report, the process and waiting for decisions, to acknowledging that the disease is here to stay. – I have been dealt bad cards, and those are the ones I play with. But I have found out that you have to be very healthy to be sick in this country. It’s a bureaucracy, a jungle and a mess out there. In periods without stress, the anti-fibrosis medications have worked well. The lungs do not get better, but the capacity does get better with exercise. The days are spent listening to the radio and languishing on the phone. Photo: Bjørn Atle Gildestad – I have ten percent on my battery, so if I have to sit with e-mails and such, I use it up. – Paperwork picking up? – Yes it is ready. And here it is anxiety and depression that lie at the bottom. The kind that grown men shouldn’t talk about. He finds it difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel after the conclusion of the lung tests at Oslo University Hospital. This may mean that Nav rejects an application for opinion replacement. It may also mean that the Norwegian Pension Fund rejects the application for occupational injury compensation. None of the cases have been processed. – It is a complete disaster that I have to fight against the State, because it means that I cannot concentrate on rehabilitation and training. That’s the kill for me. I think it’s a grotesque way of saying thank you for the effort you’ve made for our country. If not covid – then what? Senior doctor Karl Færden says they cannot establish that Trond had developed fibrosis anyway, i.e. if he had not had covid. – No, we can’t. – Isn’t it too close to believe that it was covid that triggered this, and that it is a secondary disease of covid since he gets it a few months after he has had the virus? – That is one way to think, of course. But that’s not all we have the answer to within medicine, he says. Færden emphasizes that the doctors’ task is to provide the medical basis for those who have to make these decisions, so that lawyers are helped by the medicine in dealing with the law. Muggerud reacts strongly to the conclusion. From time to time gallows humor kicks in, also with him who struggles with pulmonary fibrosis. Photo: Bjørn Atle Gildestad – How can they claim something like this? I think. I have been healthy and fast all my life, trained and played handball, and never had a problem with my lungs before I got covid. So it’s pure guesswork they’re using. And that’s a disclaimer. Wintering at Tyrifjorden An economic boost had helped Trond to stay in the heat. He experiences a big difference in training in dry and warm weather in more southerly areas and the moist autumn air by the Tyrifjorden. Nevertheless, he is prepared to spend the winter in a caravan and a nail tent by the Tyrifjorden – I thrive here, in a strange way. The 54-year-old still has a twinkle in his eye. – The gallows humor kicks in sometimes, he laughs – before the cough takes over again. Trond Muggerud has exempted senior doctor Karl Færden from his duty to testify.
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Trond (54) became ill after corona at work
