When Shane Walsh was injured at work, he hoped workers' compensation would help him recover. Instead, one of Australia's largest claim management agents repeatedly delayed urgent surgery, which he says left him with permanent complications.
He is among a number of injured workers who have told the ABC that Gallagher Bassett, a global company, has failed to provide adequate care.
Shane is a former Paralympic swimmer who won silver at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics.
Making the Australian team was a childhood dream of his, and keeping fit became his passion.
In 2022, Shane was working for the Northern Territory government as a senior men's health coordinator when he injured his back while moving a patient on a stretcher that collapsed.
"When it went down, it basically pulled me to one side, which caused the disc [in my back] to pop out," he said.
Shane lodged a workers' compensation claim through his employer, the NT government, which funds and outsources the management of its cases to Gallagher Bassett.
Medical records seen by the ABC show that doctors recommended spinal fusion surgery to repair a bulging disc compressing nerves in Shane's spine, with one doctor stating: "I feel that his prognosis without surgery is poor".
"I went from 80 kilos down to 49 kilos because some days the pain was just so intense and I couldn't make it to the kitchen," Shane said.
"Living by myself, I'd be crawling from the bed to the shower to the toilet."
However, Shane feels delays by Gallagher Bassett in approving the surgery left him with cauda equina syndrome — a serious condition that causes pain, weakness and incontinence and often requires surgery within 24 to 48 hours.
Medical records show he has "severe sexual dysfunction since the injury" and he fears he may never have children.
"I've gone from being this super fit man to … I now have to catheterise myself twice a day to have normal bladder function," he said.
Shane was born with what he calls a "mild case" of cerebral palsy, but after numerous surgeries as a child and years of therapy to counter its effects, he said physiotherapists found it difficult to detect.
Yet after his workplace injury, Shane said Gallagher Bassett attempted to blame his symptoms on his cerebral palsy.
