The Ocala City Council approved a $96,250 settlement for a retired Ocala Police Department officer who must get knee replacement surgery for an injury that occurred while she was on the job several years ago.
On Tuesday, council members approved the settlement for Patricia Mraz as part of the consent agenda, which is enacted with one vote. Items on the consent agenda are only voted on individually if they are pulled for further discussion and consideration.
Mraz, who is 59 years old, worked for OPD for 29 years beginning in March 1996 and retired on July 31 of this year. According to a city staff report, she was injured on December 21, 2015 and February 13, 2018, while on the job. Although the city asserted the statute of limitations against the 2015 date, the 2018 date was still compensable.
The settlement is associated with the incident in 2018, wherein Mraz slipped on a wet metal ramp and struck both of her knees. Following that injury, she was treated and got an MRI That showed a “horizontal cleavage tear” in her medial meniscus.
Mraz was referred to a new doctor, who noted that arthritic changes in her right knee had been the source behind persistent pain and symptoms she was experiencing in her right knee.
In July 2020, that doctor released Mraz to return to work on fully duty without restrictions and suggested she consider “anti-inflammatory medications, as well as a knee brace,” to help her stabilize and compress the knee.
Mraz was cleared to work at various points throughout the next several years, undergoing “viscosupplementation and injections for her right knee osteoarthritis” in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
During that time, her doctor noted that her current symptoms were 100 percent related to arthritic changes, and these arthritic changes were more likely than not related to her multiple prior surgical interventions to the right knee, which were all work-related.
On June 18, Mraz’s doctor recommended she undergo total replacement surgery due to failed conservative treatment management over the years. The doctor indicated that the “causal relationship of the need for” Mraz’s knee replacement surgery was “100 percent related to the subject workplace accident.”
According to the city’s staff report, the total cost for knee replacement surgery is $73,670. The report also noted that there is a likelihood that Mraz would need multiple surgeries due to her age, and that post surgery, there still would remain the possibility of pain management.
Although Mraz initially sought $187,500, the city agreed on a final settlement of $96,250. Mraz will net $71,960.50 from the settlement, while her attorney will claim $24,037.50. There are also associated costs of $152.
Mraz began working for OPD in the records department before transitioning into the role of a police officer. During her time on the force, Mraz served as a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) officer, as well as a drug agent, and a school resource officer.