- Intervening causes
- Non-economic loss {NEL}
- Permanent impairment {NEL}
- Loss of earnings {LOE} (eligibility) (impairment)
- Concussion
The worker appealed the following issues: a) ongoing entitlement for a head injury beyond October 23, 2020, including recognition of permanent impairment and entitlement to a non-economic loss (NEL) award; and, b) entitlement for Loss of Earnings (LOE) benefits beyond October 12, 2020 arising from the head injury.
The Panel allowed the appeal, in part.The Panel was satisfied that the worker's compensable concussion injury had resolved by the time of his departure for Africa on December 8, 2020, and his entitlement as well as LOE benefits ended as of that date. The Panel did not accept the worker's representative's submissions that developments in the worker's medical condition subsequent to his arrival in Africa in December 2020 were related to his October 7, 2020 workplace injury and sufficient to justify ongoing entitlement. The worker was provided a diagnosis of "Chronic recurrent headaches secondary to sphenoid and ethmoidal sinusitis complicated by one episode of meningitis." The intervening cause principle has typically been applied in scenarios in which a subsequent non-compensable accident has been determined to have broken the chain of causation between the original compensable injury and the worker's ongoing impairment and loss of earnings. Tribunal jurisprudence has extended the principle so as to apply in situations in which the subsequent intervening cause is a non-compensable medical condition as opposed to an accident (see Decision No. 380/17). Applying the foregoing principle, the Panel was satisfied that the worker's non-compensable medical condition which arose and was treated in Africa during the period of December 2020 through March 2021 amounted to an intervening cause which broke the chain of causation between the worker's impairment and loss of earnings and his work-related condition.The worker received ongoing entitlement, including full LOE benefits, from October 12, 2020 to December 8, 2020. Entitlement and benefits as of December 9, 2020 were denied. The worker was not entitled to a finding of a permanent impairment.