In an unpublished decision, the Fifth District Court of Appeal has ruled that merely asking a doctor whether an injury is work-related is not exactly the same as carrying one's burden with substantial medical evidence that an injury arose out of, and was within the course and scope of, work.
In this case, the applicant testified that he only posed the question to his doctor. And that the doctor hypothetically responded that the facts presented by the worker "could" have aggravated the condition. There were no medical reports substantiating the doctor's supposed opinion.
While prevailing on the issue of whether or not this was a post-termination case (the applicant successfully convinced the appeals court that he'd reported the injury to 2 doctors before his termination), he lost on the central issue of AOE/COE.
The case is Elmore v. WCAB (Elliott Laboratories).
To read the full opinion,
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- Help for the Injured Worker
