In a recent case, Brian Schaedler of our firm obtained disallowance of a claim for tinnitus at the Law Judge level, and also obtained an affirmance of that opinion on appeal to the Board Panel. The claimant in this case was injured in an elevator that went into freefall and then stopped suddenly. There was no dispute that the claimant had injuries to her neck, back, and a traumatic brain injury. The claimant had also later alleged causally related tinnitus– ringing in the ears.
Brian obtained testimony from both the treating physician and our client’s consultant. As the Board Panel pointed out in evaluating the appeal, the consulting physician opined that tinnitus is a subjective sensation of sound either in an individual’s head or ears. The panel credited the doctor’s further testimony that the only way to confirm the diagnosis is to administer an audiological exam. In this case, as Brian elicited through the testimony of the physicians and argued to the judge below, the mere complaint of tinnitus is not enough to provide a diagnosis. An audiological examination a few months after the injury showed that the claimant’s hearing was normal. No physician diagnosed any inner ear damage which would have been indicative of tinnitus. Most important, as Brian pointed out, neither the consulting physician nor the claimant’s own doctor could assign the cause of the complaint of tinnitus definitively to the work accident. The treating doctor, in particular, upon cross-examination conceded that he could not offer any opinion on causation either at the time he wrote his report or during his testimony.
Like all of the attorneys at Hamberger and Weiss, Brian has an “ear” for questionable claims and knows how to sound out favorable testimony from the doctors to give our clients the best opportunity to prevail.
