OHIO: Lapse of Time Between Incident and Treatment Amplifies Need for Expert Testimony on Causation

It is often said that just as the “instantaneous nature of an observed causal progression is a familiar element in cases dispensing with medical testimony, so a delay between the accident and the symptoms, disability or death diminishes any such self-evident causal relation [Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 128.05].  Accordingly, an Ohio appellate court recently affirmed a trial court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of an employer where the only available medical evidence was in the form of office notes by a treating physician who did not see the injured worker until more than a month following the alleged incident and the notes did not speak to a causal connection between the injury and the work.

Reported by Thomas A. Robinson, J.D.

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See Jimmison v. Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Auth., 2013 Ohio 3155, 2013 Ohio App. LEXIS 3202 (July 18, 2013) [2013 Ohio App. LEXIS 3202 (July 18, 2013)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 128.05 [128.05]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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