Opinion ID: 880034
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: medical stability and benefits

Text: The Workers' Compensation Court found that Ms. Daniels has been unable to undergo further training because of her anaphylactic condition and that Dr. Johnson testified the condition could not be cured. The insurer argues this is an inadequate basis for permanent total disability since the physician did not testify that Ms. Daniels had attained medical stability. Section 39-71-116(13), MCA (1983), defined permanent total disability as: [A] condition resulting from injury as defined in [the Workers' Compensation Act] that results in the loss of actual earnings or earning capability that exists after the injured worker is as far restored as the permanent character of the injuries will permit and which results in the worker having no reasonable prospect of finding regular employment of any kind in the normal labor market ... The claimant must prove by a preponderance of medical evidence that she has no reasonable prospect of re-entering the normal labor market to qualify as permanently totally disabled. Bundtrock v. Duff Chevrolet (1982), 199 Mont. 128, 131, 647 P.2d 856, 857-58. Because Ms. Daniels could not be cured, Dr. Johnson testified that she could not return to a job where she could not control her environment. Ms. Daniels has worked as a bartender, a convenience store clerk, and as a nurse's aide. Because a worker in such jobs typically cannot control the job environment, Ms. Daniels cannot return to them. That being so, the Workers' Compensation Court did not err in designating the claimant as permanently and totally disabled. Wise, 656 P.2d at 819. The court then properly made the award of the weekly rate that the parties had agreed to.