Under the Return to Work Act 2014 (SA), s 22 is the leading and dominant provision governing assessment of whole person impairment. Section 22(8)(c) (impairments from the same injury or cause to be assessed together or combined) and s 58(6) (injuries arising from the same trauma treated as one for lump sum purposes) perform different functions and are not mutually exclusive. The reasoning in [name withheld] v Employers Mutual Ltd, which treated 'compensable disabilities' as synonymous with 'impairments' under the 1986 Act, can no longer be sustained in relation to s 58(6) of the 2014 Act given the legislative distinction between 'injury' and 'impairment'. The question of whether adverse consequences of medical treatment for a work injury constitute the 'same injury or cause' under s 22(8)(c) was left open for factual determination.
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