SAIF Corp. v. Roam

Employer seeks review of an order of the Workers’ Compensation Board holding that it is responsible for payment of certain medical expenses necessary for the treatment of claimant’s noncompensable psychiatric problem.

Claimant, who has a pre-existing psychiatric problem, including drug dependency, sustained a compensable elbow injury in 1977, requiring several surgeries over aperiod of years. In 1987, he claimed that those surgeries had worsened his psychiatric condition. He and employer entered into a disputed claim settlement by which claimant agreed that his psychiatric condition was not…