Ky. Rev. Stat. § 342.7305, pursuant to which workers’ compensation claimants suffering hearing loss may not be awarded income benefits unless their whole person impairment rating (“WPI”)—as determined by converting...
Kentucky’s Special Hearing Loss Threshold is Constitutional Kentucky’s Special Hearing Loss Threshold is ConstitutionalAs was widely anticipated, on Wednesday (October 24, 2018), Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed House Bill 1840, known by some as “the Protz fix,” reestablishing that the AMA Guides, 6th...
PA Governor Wolf Signs House Bill 1840 (i.e., “the Protz Fix”) PA Governor Wolf Signs House Bill 1840 (i.e., “the Protz Fix”)Last Thursday (October 18, 2018), the Pennsylvania legislature sent House Bill 1840, a/k/a “the Protz Fix,” to Governor Wolf’s desk for his signature. Passed by an easy 34-15 margin, the...
Protz “Fix” Awaits PA Governor’s Signature Protz “Fix” Awaits PA Governor’s SignatureJettisoning the Bath Water—Does the Baby Remain? As someone who has, for the past 32 years, earned the bulk of his living reading—I’ll admit, often only skimming—some 2,500 appellate decisions...
Recent Kansas AMA Guides Decision: Would the Court Prefer a Fault-Based System? Recent Kansas AMA Guides Decision: Would the Court Prefer a Fault-Based System?Decision Reinstates 4th Edition for Workers’ Comp Disputes In a decision that quotes, among other authority, Linda Loman, wife of Willy Loman, of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the...
Kansas Court Strikes Down Use of AMA Guides 6th Ed. Kansas Court Strikes Down Use of AMA Guides 6th Ed.Conflict with PA’s Protz Decision is Only on the Surface The sections of Oklahoma’s Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act (AWCA) that require use of the “current edition” of the AMA’s Guides...
Oklahoma High Court OKs Use of “Current Edition” of AMA Guides Oklahoma High Court OKs Use of “Current Edition” of AMA GuidesYesterday (October 2, 2017), a cadre of 29 Pennsylvania legislators introduced a bill—House Bill 1840—that would require physicians to apply the methodology set forth in “the sixth edition” of the...
PA Legislative Bill Would Require Use of 6th Edition of AMA Guides PA Legislative Bill Would Require Use of 6th Edition of AMA GuidesDuring September of each of the past five years, my colleague, Robin Kobayashi, and I have pulled together a volume entitled, Workers’ Compensation Emerging Issues Analysis. Annually published by LexisNexis®,...
2017’s Top 10 Workers’ Compensation Cases 2017’s Top 10 Workers’ Compensation CasesIn a highly anticipated decision, Protz v. Workers’ Comp. Appeal Bd. (Derry Area Sch. Dist.), 2017 Pa. LEXIS 1401 (June 20, 2017), a split Supreme Court of Pennsylvania yesterday held that...
Pennsylvania High Court Strikes Down Use of “Most Recent” AMA Guides Pennsylvania High Court Strikes Down Use of “Most Recent” AMA GuidesWhere an independent medical evaluator concluded that the active range of motion (ROM) measurements she obtained from an injured worker were implausible, indicative of poor effort, and insufficient to verify...
Kentucky IME May Use Clinical Skill and Judgment in Construing AMA Guides Kentucky IME May Use Clinical Skill and Judgment in Construing AMA GuidesWhere the opinion offered by an employee’s medical expert merely disagreed with the medical impairment registry (MIR) physician’s findings, yet did not show how that the MIR physician had used...
Disagreement Does Not Equal Clear and Convincing Evidence That Tennessee MIR Physician’s Opinion was Wrong Disagreement Does Not Equal Clear and Convincing Evidence That Tennessee MIR Physician’s Opinion was WrongYesterday, in a divided decision, the Supreme Court of South Carolina, overruling an earlier decision of the state’s Court of Appeals, held that evidence of subsequent employment is insufficient by...
S.C. Supreme Court Says Return to Work Insufficient to Rebut Presumption of PTD Where Impairment to Back is Greater Than 50 Percent S.C. Supreme Court Says Return to Work Insufficient to Rebut Presumption of PTD Where Impairment to Back is Greater Than 50 Percent