| Date: | 10/11/2005 |
|---|---|
| Organization: | Department of Industrial Accidents |
| Docket Number: | DIA Board No. 046839-91 |
| Location: | Boston |
- Employee: Manuel J. Nunes, III
- Employer: Town of Edgartown
- Insurer: Mass. Education & Government Association SIG
COSTIGAN, J. When an impartial physician, appointed under G. L. c. 152, § 11A(2) to examine the employee and render opinions on a medical condition alleged to be work-related, gives two mutually exclusive and contradictory answers to the crucial question of causation, the medical opinion cannot be prima facie under the statute, and a decision adopting one of the doctor's answers over the other must be reversed. Brooks v. Labor Management Servs., 11 Mass. Workers' Comp. Rep. 575 (1997). This is the error cited by the insurer in its appeal of an administrative judge's decision awarding the employee benefits for a recurrence of a 1991 industrial knee injury. We therefore reverse the decision and recommit the case for a de novo hearing.1