The Court held that a medical panel under Part VBA of the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) is entitled to determine whether a claimant actually suffers from the injury alleged in the claim, including by considering alternative medical explanations for the claimant's symptoms, without impermissibly engaging in legal causation analysis. Where the Panel concluded on expert medical grounds that the plaintiff's hearing loss was constitutional rather than noise-induced, it was not required to assume the injury was caused as alleged and proceed to an impairment assessment; the statutory scheme does not require a panel to assess impairment of a condition it has determined the claimant does not suffer from. The Court also observed, without deciding, that findings of fact made in related VCAT proceedings regarding the duration of siren exposure could potentially give rise to abuse of process arguments if re-litigated.
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