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instead gradually progressed
over time and led to increasing
pain and numbness in the lower
back and spreading down to the
buttocks and legs. In addition,
the worker's pain increased to the
point of needing to see his doctor
while the worker was laid off and
not even working, said the tribu-
nal.
The tribunal also pointed out
that the medical documenta-
tion showed the worker's back
and leg symptoms remained
unchanged from the initial re-
porting in May 2012 up to the
present — meaning the forklift
injury didn't aggravate the con-
dition.
The tribunal noted that nei-
ther the worker's family doctor
nor any of the specialists he saw
— including a neurosurgeon,
neurologist, and internists — felt
that there was a link between the
worker's condition and the fork-
lift injury.
"(The worker's family doctor)
did not suggest that the worker's
symptoms were work related. We
also find it significant that there
does not appear to be any other
medical opinion on file which
supports an injury-related cause
for the worker's ongoing low
back and leg symptoms," said the
tribunal. "In our view, the medi-
cal record supports a conclusion
that the worker's ongoing symp-
toms were related to the natural
progression of his degenerative
disc disease, as evident in the x-
ray, CT scan, and MRI reports on
file, from 1992 onwards."
The tribunal also had a medi-
cal discussion paper put togeth-
er by orthopaedic surgeons that
indicated aging without injury
could cause disc problems and
there was no consistent evi-
dence that a non-traumatic inju-
ry could aggravate or accelerate
pre-existing aging changes.
The tribunal determined that
the worker's pre-existing de-
generative disc disease was "a
symptomatic pre-accident im-
pairment" which had been iden-
tified and for which the worker
was receiving treatment before
the forklift accident and injury.
As result, there was no entitle-
ment to ongoing benefits for the
pre-existing condition. As far as
entitlement for an aggravation
of the worker's condition, the
worker already received benefits
from Jan. 14 to March 25, 2013,
which covered any possible enti-
tlement for aggravation from an
acute episode such as the forklift
incident. The worker's appeal
was denied.
For more information see:
• Decision No. 2512/15, 2015
CarswellOnt 2039 (Ont.
W.S.I.A. Trib.).
Worker had degenerative disease before injury
No benefits < pg. 6
Credit:
bikeriderlondon
(Shutterstock)
