Nathan Edwards-Bonello featured on 2GB discussing personal injury claims – 27 March 2021
Nathan Edwards-Bonello providing Q & A on the 2GB Deborah Knight Afternoon Show discussing "Personal Injury" 27 March
27 March 2021
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DK – Deborah Knight / NEB – Nathan Edwards-Bonello– C1, 2, 3, etc – Callers
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Read the transcript below:
CM Hi there Nathan.
NEB G’day how are you?
CM I’m very well – long-time no speak – but good to have you on. Now, I’ve got an anonymous emailer here – a listener who’s saying “My treating doctor has recommended surgery and I really feel I need to get better. However, the workers compensation insurer won’t pay for it – Is there anything I can do?”
NEB Sure. Great question. Chris in order for a particular treatment such as surgery to be payable by the workers compensation insurer, it needs to be reasonably necessary and related to the injury. A workers compensation insurer can knock back a proposed treatment because they say it is not reasonably necessary and/or not related to the injury or both. This is something we encounter all the time on a day to day basis during practice and …………..
CM It’s definition……. argument isn’t it?
NEB It is. Yes. It’s actually a Section 60 subsection 5 dispute which is basically the definition of what is reasonably necessary and all the case law surrounding that. So, to cut a long story short, the applicant or the caller has options if the treatment is knocked back. This involves the solicitor gathering medical evidence concerning the injury and need for treatment in question and then filing the relevant application with the Personal Injury Commission or the former Workers Compensation Commission – it’s a new…… it’s been amalgamated now to a PIC – often times – once further evidence is gathered, the insurer will either reverse the decision on review and agree to pay for treatment – that seems to be more of a rarity now and if they don’t reverse their decision then we will file an application in the Personal Injury Commission with all the evidence and a statement and we are pretty successful with those.
CM Okay – so there you go. To the emailer – it’s not all done and dusted – you can gather more information and resubmit. Now, this is from Joe. Joe says “I had an injury years ago and it’s still affecting me now. I didn’t pursue it at the time and I regret it because it’s still causing me a lot of issues. Is there anything I can do?”.
NEB Yes that’s a great question Joe. This comes up all the time. It’s going to depend on the factual matrix as to whether or not and what type of limitation periods apply, but in a general sense, there are strict time limits that apply to all personal injury claims and that if time has lapsed, this could prove fatal to the case. However, depending on the type of claim, it is possible to extend the period of time in which you are able to bring the claim. You shouldn’t automatically assume that you cannot make a claim for an older injury however, you should see urgent legal advice without delay.
VOICEOVER
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