Knee injuries cause complicated misinterpretation
The Queensland Industrial Court allowed an appeal by Tony Luxton, against a decision by WorkCover to reject his claim for a secondary physical injury.
Mr Luxton had three prior accepted work-related injuries to his left knee, and one of the consequences of these injuries was that his left knee would on occasion spontaneously give way.
He was awaiting surgery on his knee when he was walking up some stairs at home and his left knee gave way, he suffered an injury to his right knee when his right foot impacted on the stairs after his left knee gave way.
The right knee injury was rejected by WorkCover and QComp
On appeal, the decision of the Court in WorkCover Queensland v Ward {2001} QIC 47 was reconsidered and found to have been effectively misinterpreted by the Insurer and QComp.
The requirement of Ward that there be an inexorable link between the original work-related injury and the secondary injury was putting words into the definition of injury.
The right knee injury was held to have arisen out of employment by reason of it being caused by the work related left knee injury: Luxton v QComp C/2008/141 (19 December 2008)
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