Schirmer and Comcare (Compensation)

This matter concerned an appeal by Mr. Schirmer against a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) concerning his entitlement to compensation from Comcare. The dispute centred on whether Comcare remained liable to pay medical expenses and incapacity payments for an intervertebral disc disorder in Mr. Schirmer's lumbar region, a condition for which liability had previously been accepted. The AAT's decision was reviewed by Mrs. J C Kelly, Senior Member.

The primary legal issue before the court was to determine whether the disc extrusion at L4/5, which was causing sciatica down Mr. Schirmer's left leg, was causally related to the accepted work injury of 5 September 2003, or if it was attributable to a degenerative process and a subsequent incident in February 2005. This required the court to consider competing expert medical evidence regarding the cause of Mr. Schirmer's current incapacity.

The court considered the opinions of orthopaedic surgeons Dr. Bodel and Dr. Smith. Dr. Bodel expressed the view that it was possible the disc lesions were a consequence of the 2003 accident, causing internal disc disruption, with further external disruption occurring in early 2005. However, he could not state this was probable and emphasised his opinion was based on Mr. Schirmer's symptoms not having fully settled after 2003. In contrast, Dr. Smith opined that there was no relationship between the disc extrusion and the 2003 incident, attributing the condition to significant degeneration of the L4/5 and L5/S1 discs, which predated 2005. Dr. Smith considered it highly likely that the disc extrusion in February 2005 rendered Mr. Schirmer's back more symptomatic on a regular basis, a situation likely to continue. The court ultimately affirmed the Tribunal's decision, which had accepted Dr. Smith's opinion over that of Dr. Bodel.