Hicks v. SAIF Corp.

In this workers’ compensation case, we held that the Workers’ Compensation Board erred in rejecting a medical arbiter’s rating of claimant’s impairment for decreased range of motion after surgery for a compensable cervical injury. Hicks v. SAIF, 194 Or App 655, 96 P3d 856 (2004). We held that, in the absence of other evidence showing a different level of impairment or that the impairment was not related to the injury, the board must accept the unambiguous opinion of the medical arbiter as to the cause of claimant’s lost range of motion and may not reject it merely because it finds the opinion…