judicial review of decision of medical appeal panel
claim for worker’s compensation
psychological injury
Quick Take
1The phrase 'the medical assessment appealed against' in s 327(3)(b) of the 1998 Act refers to the date the medical assessment certificate is issued, not the date of the worker's examination or the commencement of the referral process; the same phrase must bear the same meaning in ss 327(3)(b) and 327(5).
2When assessing a PIRS class rating for an area of functional impairment, a medical assessor or Appeal Panel is not prohibited from considering or comparing a worker's pre-injury functioning; the statutory scheme and Guidelines contain express references to pre-injury matters and the task involves broad evaluative clinical judgment.
3Whether additional surveillance evidence is qualitatively different from existing surveillance material, and whether it was reasonably obtainable before the medical assessment, are factual conclusions within the Appeal Panel's evaluative function; a challenge to those conclusions framed as legal unreasonableness or irrationality faces an 'almost insurmountable hurdle' and will ordinarily amount to an impermissible merits review.
