2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE ELEVEN - Workmen’s Compensation (§§ 1 — 268) › Chapter 1 - Workmen’s Accident Compensation (§§ 1 — 42) › § 6 - Medical examination and treatment

During the period of disability, the workman or employee who is injured or sick under the circumstances covered by this chapter shall submit to treatment and examination, at reasonable times and places, by a competent physician designated by the Manager; Provided, That if the Manager does not provide the workman or employee with adequate attendance, the said workman or employee may appeal to the Industrial Commission, which, after an investigation by a physician designated for the purpose, shall order such attendance as may be proper in the case, and the Manager shall comply with the order of the Commission; and, Provided, further, That when the nature of the accident makes it necessary at the discretion of the Manager or of his authorized representative to accommodate and attend to, the injured workman or employee in a government hospital, said hospital may charge the State Insurance Fund for the attendance and the stay of the injured workman in his hospital in the amount that the Manager may agree.
The injured workman or employee shall be entitled to designate, for his own account, a physician or surgeon to be present at his examination or to treat him. This, however, shall not affect the right of the physician or surgeon designated by the Manager to visit the injured workman or employee at all such times as he may deem proper, and under reasonable circumstances, during such time as the workman or employee may be disabled for work.
The refusal or objection of a workman or employee, without just cause, to submit to the medical examination or professional treatment provided by the Manager shall deprive him of his right to receive compensation under this chapter or to institute or bring proceedings hereunder to recover such compensation; Provided, That should the workman or employee fail to present himself to the physician for professional treatment within a period of not more than five (5) working days after the accident occurs, and fails to explain his delay satisfactorily to the Manager, said Manager may deprive him of his right to receive any compensation, but under no circumstances can the workman or employee be denied such medical attendance as, in the judgment of the Manager, may be deemed necessary in endeavoring to bring about his complete recovery; Provided, however, That when the workman has satisfactorily explained his delay, the Manager shall be under obligation to pay him the total compensation or compensation for the disability, including per diems for such time as he may have been under medical treatment; and Provided, further, That in order to appraise and verify the disability affecting the workman or employee, the Manager may compel the personal appearance of the injured person at the expense of the State Fund.
In case of the death of a workman or employee, under the conditions fixed in this chapter, the Manager of the State Fund may order an autopsy of the corpse to be performed. If the relatives of the deceased consent to the said autopsy, then the Manager shall designate the physician-surgeon who is to perform it, and the medical fees and any other expense incurred for such reason shall be for the account of the State Fund.
Every physician performing an autopsy by order of the Manager shall send, without delay, to the School of Medicine of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or to any pathologist of recognized professional competence designated by the Manager, such viscera as may be necessary for the said institution or the pathologist designated by the Manager to carry out an analysis and verifying examination of the report rendered by the physician performing the autopsy. The certified report of the physician as the result of the autopsy, as well as that rendered by the School of Medicine or by the pathologist designated by the Manager, shall be attached to the record of the case for due consideration thereof; and said reports may be admitted as evidence in any proceeding before the Manager or the Industrial Commission.
Nothing in the foregoing provisions shall be construed in the sense of depriving the beneficiaries or relatives of the deceased workman or employee of their right to designate, for their own account, a physician-surgeon to be present at the autopsy or to participate therein together with the physician designated by the Manager; Provided, That the refusal of the relatives or beneficiaries to consent to the performance of the autopsy shall in no way affect their right to claim and obtain compensation, nor shall it constitute any presumption against the right of the claimants.
In cases of permanent partial disability and permanent total disability, workers or employees, at the instance of the Administrator, are compelled to appear before the Industrial Commission to submit to an examination for the purpose of ascertaining if their disability has ceased during the period they receive compensation, which shall be suspended as soon as such disability ceases; Provided, That if workers or employees who are permanently and totally disabled due to the total and permanent loss of industrial vision in both eyes, both feet at or above the ankle, both hands at or above the wrist, a hand and a foot or for becoming paraplegic or quadraplegic, or for the permanent loss of the functions of both legs so that they are bound to move about in a wheelchair; and in spite of their condition they have been rehabilitated in any other area of industry, the compensation they are entitled to for total or permanent disability shall not be suspended even though the Industrial Commission determines that said disability has ceased, according to the provisions of § 3(d) of this title. It shall be understood that once three (3) years have transpired as of the definitive closing date of the case, the case shall not be reopened except for those cases expressly provided in subsection (a)(1) of § 3 of this title.
History —Apr. 18, 1935, No. 45, p. 250, § 5; May 6, 1938, No. 137, p. 279, § 1; May 1, 1950, No. 155, p. 414, § 1; May 11, 1951, No. 405, p. 1058, § 1; June 29, 1954, No. 88, p. 462, § 1; June 18, 1957, No. 68, p. 158, § 1; May 22, 1968, No. 48, p. 78, § 1; July 10, 1986, No. 98, p. 306, § 2; Oct. 16, 1999, No. 314, § 2.