Searles v. Johnston Cement

Petitioner, widow of claimant, seeks review of a Workers’ Compensation Board order that reversed the referee’s award of permanent total disability and awarded 35 percent unscheduled permanent partial disability. ORS 656.218(3). We affirm.

The facts are undisputed. Claimant, age 61 at the time of the hearing by the referee, had worked for employer as a manual laborer since 1974. In 1983, he underwent a partial excision of a cancerous colon and had a permanent colostomy. The cancer was not work related. Thereafter, he returned to work with no apparent difficulty. He had had back trouble for…