Hale v. West Virginia Office of the Insurance Commissioner

KETCHUM, Chief Justice:

The claimant/petitioner, John P. Hale (“Mr. Hale”), appeals a final order of the Workers’ Compensation Board of Review (“BOR”) dated August 9, 2010. In that order, the BOR affirmed a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Office of Judges (“OOJ”) denying Mr. Hale’s request to add major depressive disorder as a compensable injury of his workers’ compensation claim.

In this appeal we address whether a claimant must get prior authorization from the claims administrator before seeking an initial psychiatric consultation. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the BOR’s…