In serious injury applications under s 134AB of the Accident Compensation Act 1985 (Vic), a trial judge is entitled to prefer the opinion of a treating general practitioner who has seen the worker on multiple occasions over years and consistently diagnosed an organic injury, over the opinions of medico-legal specialists who found no physical signs on examination, particularly where other specialists had similarly found no physical signs at a time when the organic injury was later confirmed by surgery. The mere absence of physical signs on examination is not necessarily determinative against a conclusion that a physically-based injury exists.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 9 later cases that cite this judgment.
1 of the 9 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.