In 1993, John Knox was an over-the-road trucker. Someone had cut a fence, and Knox ran into a herd of cattle that had wandered onto the road.

After 15 years, five back surgeries, a hernia, a suicide attempt and episodes of drug addiction, Knox is still fighting for the compensation he needs.

"It's been a battle every step of the way," Knox said.

Last year, Wyoming's workers compensation program paid out about $121 million in benefits to injured workers. As of November, the program still had a growing reserve of $937 million.

Several trade associations have pointed to the large reserve and told Wyoming legislators they want employers to earn a credit on their premiums. But several Wyoming attorneys say they'll fight the effort because the workers compensation program isn't properly taking care of injured workers and the families of those who are killed on the job in the Cowboy State.

Cheyenne attorney George Santini said the program's $937 million reserve was "bought and paid for by the blood of the injured worker."

"Both the employers and employees are not getting what they paid for," Santini continued. "Instead, they're getting a government bureaucracy that panders to special interest and will do anything in its power not to hear the voice of the injured worker."

Santini was a speaker at a forum in Casper Monday night on the shortfalls of Wyoming's workers compensation program. It was organized by the Wyoming AFL-CIO, Equality State Policy Center and the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association.

Reached by the Star-Tribune last week, workers compensation officials said they would not attend the forum.

"The specific nature of these problems is unclear, but we have always been and will continue to be amenable to discussion regarding the program and service delivery system," workers compensation director Gary Child told the Star-Tribune.

Injured workers, attorneys and others who spoke at the forum said one or two anecdotes don't tell the whole story. But hundreds of cases over the past two decades reveal a disturbing bureaucracy in the workers compensation program.

Several decades ago, Wyoming workers lost their right to sue their employers. Today, even if an employer is found to be grossly negligent in the death or injury of an employee, the employee and his or her family cannot sue the employer.

In exchange, the workers compensation program was created to provide injured workers the medical care they needed, and help make up for the loss of ability to earn a living.

But in the 1980s and 1990s, the program was hemorrhaging money. Attorneys said several changes to Wyoming law - particularly during the 1990s - have created a system that institutionally discourages injured workers from seeking compensation.

In 2005, firefighter Abe Wheeler responded to a call in which two of his fellow firefighters, and friends, were killed.

In addition to his physical injuries, Wheeler suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. But workers compensation quickly stopped paying for the counseling and medication he desperately needed. Wheeler's attorney explained that, under Wyoming law, mental injuries are only compensated if a physical injury occurred first and was the cause of the mental injury.

Attorney Mike Newman said workers compensation officials argued that Wheeler's post-traumatic stress disorder was caused by the trauma of watching his friends get killed in the line of duty.

"The division had a clear choice of whether to treat Wheeler, and they chose not to. Not because it was the right thing to do, but just because they could," Newman said.

Attorneys said they plan to organize support for changes to the workers compensation program.

"They are restricting benefits to the injured worker," Newman said. "We need to be active, as employees, to advocate change to bring this system back to what it was intended to do."

Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffertrib.com.