SAIF Corp. v. Sprague

This workers’ compensation case requires us to review the statutory classifications for medical conditions and, in particular, to determine when an insurer is responsible for medical services necessary to treat those conditions. Claimant sustained a workplace knee injury in 1976 and received treatment for that injury. Nearly 25 years later, his knee had deteriorated to the point that a physician recommended knee replacement surgery. Before that surgery could be undertaken, however, claimant had to lose weight. Claimant’s doctor recommended gastric bypass surgery, without which the knee…