- Procedure (production of documents) (medical report) (raw data)
The worker appealed a decision of the Appeals Resolution Officer denying ongoing entitlement for brain and concussion injuries.
The ARO decision placed significant weight on the reporting of a psychologist, who stated that the worker's test performance indicated that he was either not putting forth the effort or that he was purposely performing poorly and, thus, met the diagnostic criteria for probable malingered neurocognitive dysfunction.In this decision, the Panel considered the worker's request for release of the psychologist's raw test data. The psychologist denied the request, and the worker was now requesting that the Tribunal obtain the raw data.Practice Guidelines of the Canadian Psychological Association state that psychologists avoid releasing information that requires professional training for interpretation or analysis to persons who lack that training. The Standards of Professional Conduct of the College of Psychologists of Ontario provide for the protection of security of tests. When reasonable and appropriate, raw data is released with proper authorization, but test materials, such as questions and stimuli, manuals and protocols will not be released.The Panel reviewed two Tribunal decisions, as well as a decision of Ontario Superior Court, and denied the worker's request for the raw data. Interpretation of the results of psychological testing generally requires the assistance of an expert in neuropsychology. The raw data would be of little assistance in the absence of appropriate expert assistance.The Panel note that nothing prevents the worker and his representative from finding a psychologist trained to interpret the raw test data and asking the psychologist to obtain and interpret the data for them.The worker's request for the Tribunal to obtain the raw data was denied.