Opinion ID: 1677741
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Unsuccessful Rehabilitation Attempt

Text: This case requires that we construe La.Rev.Stat. 23:1226, mandating an attempt at rehabilitation before a finding of permanent total disability is made, in pari materia with La.Rev.Stat. 23:1221(2), defining permanently, totally disabled. Under the scenario presented in this case, involving an employee who has unsuccessfully attempted rehabilitation, it would defy logic and render La.Rev.Stat. 23:1226 meaningless to exclude from consideration the employee's inability to be educated or retrained in determining if such an employee is permanently, totally disabled. As one court has noted in addressing a similar issue, while lack of education alone is not sufficient to establish permanently, totally disabled, lack of education combined with lack of ability to be educated should not serve as a bar to permanently, totally disabled status. Anthony v. Georgia Pacific Corp., 589 So.2d 47 (La.App. 1st Cir.1991), writ denied, 594 So.2d 895 (La.1992)(rejecting argument that it was error to consider employee's lack of education and low intellectual capacity coupled with physical limitations resulting from back injury in determining permanently, totally disabled status). See also Denis Paul Juge, Louisiana Workers' Compensation § 11:2 (2nd ed.2001)(collecting other appellate cases similarly considering such factors to find permanently, totally disabled status). Obviously, the Legislature intended, by imposing in La.Rev.Stat. 23:1226 a mandate that the prospects of rehabilitation be explored before an employee is classified as permanently, totally disabled, that the resultsnegative as well as positive of such attempted rehabilitation be considered in ultimately determining disability status. As plaintiff aptly points out, a contrary conclusion would result in only paraplegics falling within the permanently, totally disabled status. That the Legislature could not have so intended such a result is evidenced by the separate statutory presumption set forth in La.Rev.Stat. 23:1221(4)(j), which provides a presumption of permanently, totally disabled for an employee that is paraplegic. Accordingly, when, as in this case, such attempt at rehabilitation fails, the employee's lack of ability to be educated or retrained cannot be ignored.