Opinion ID: 2974182
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Permanent Disability

Text: After the formal hearing, the ALJ found that Bordeaux was permanently and totally disabled. P & C Dock appealed this determination to the BRB which affirmed the ALJ’s determination. P & C Dock acknowledges that the ALJ correctly determined that Bordeaux’s physical injuries had reached maximum medical improvement, but argues that his cognitive impairment was temporary because several experts opined that Bordeaux would benefit from additional psychotherapy. The ALJ’s determination that Bordeaux’s disability was permanent is based on substantial evidence and consistent with applicable law. There are two separate tests for determining whether and when a disability has become permanent under the Longshore Act. E.g., Eckley v. Fibrex & Shipping Co., 21 BRBS 120, 122-23 (1988). Under the first test a residual disability is considered permanent when an employee’s condition reaches the point of maximum medical improvement. James v. Pate Stevedoring Co., 22 BRBS 271, 274 (1989); Phillips v. Marine Concrete Structures, 21 BRBS 233, 235 (1988). Under the second test, even if a person has not reached maximum medical improvement, his or her disability is still considered permanent if it “has continued for a lengthy period, and it appears to be of lasting or indefinite duration, as distinguished from one in which recovery merely awaits a normal healing period.” Watson v. Gulf Stevedore Corp., 400 F.2d 649, 654 (5th Cir. 1968). The Watson test allows for a determination of permanency even when the disability is not “pronounced medically incurable.”1 Id. 1 If an employee’s condition does improve after he or she has been determined to be permanently disabled, the employer may have the employee’s condition reviewed and re-evaluated under the modification procedure set forth in 33 U.S.C. § 922. No. 05-3425 Pittsburgh & Conneaut Dock Co., et al. Page 5 v. Director, OWCP, et al. P & C Dock argues that it was error for the ALJ to find that Bordeaux’s cognitive impairment was permanent because Drs. Schwabenbauer, McCue, and Lyons opined that there was a possibility that Bordeaux’s cognitive impairment would improve in the future with additional psychotherapy and antidepressant medication. Specifically, P & C Dock points out that Dr. Schwabenbauer testified that the chances Bordeaux would benefit from additional psychotherapy were “probably better than a coin flip, but it could be very difficult to predict someone’s response to treatment in advance.” Dr. Lyons opined that there was a twenty percent chance psychotherapy would help Bordeaux return to work and an eighty percent chance it would help him feel better. According to P & C Dock, this medical evidence that there was a possibility of improvement precludes a finding that Bordeaux’s cognitive disability had reached maximum medical improvement. P & C Dock’s argument addresses the first test for disability, but ignores the second. The entirety of its argument is based on the premise that the possibility of improvement in the future necessarily precludes a finding of permanency. The case law is replete with statements to the contrary. Watson, 400 F.2d at 654 (“[T]he determination that a disability is temporary rather than permanent need not be reached merely because the medical prognosis is that the employee is likely at some indefinite future date to get better and to be able to return to work.”); Air America, Inc. v. OWCP, 597 F.2d 773, 781 (1st Cir. 1979) (“To be considered permanent, a disability need not be eternal or everlasting.”); Mills v. Marine Repair Service, 21 BRBS 115 (1988) (holding that where medical evidence “established that the employee’s condition was of lasting and indefinite duration[,] the prognosis that the employee’s condition may have improved in the future does not preclude a finding of permanency.”); Walsh v. Vappi Construc. Co., 13 BRBS 442, 445 (1981) (“A finding of permanency is not precluded by a medical prognosis that the employee is likely to get better at some future date and to be able to return to work.”); Meecke v. I.S.O. Personnel Support Dept., 10 BRBS 670, 675-76 (1979) (“[T]he determination that one has not sustained permanent disability may not be based on a medical prognosis that the claimant is likely at some indefinite future date to get better.”); White v. Exxon Co., 9 BRBS 138, 142 (1978) (“[T]he possibility of favorable change does not foreclose a finding of permanent disability.”). Where the Watson test is met, a disability is permanent notwithstanding a medical prognosis which includes the possibility of the employee’s condition improving at some future date. There is substantial evidence in the record to support the ALJ’s conclusion that Bordeaux’s cognitive disability was permanent under the Watson test. Dr. Schwabenbauer testified that six to twelve months was the primary recovery period for a head injury such as the one Bordeaux suffered. The ALJ pointed out that Bordeaux’s cognitive limitations had lasted for more than a year and a half beyond the primary recovery period. There was no testimony that Bordeaux’s cognitive limitations were actually improving at the time of the formal hearing. Drs. Schwabenbauer and Lyons, the two doctors who were familiar with the treatment Bordeaux had undergone, both pointed out that any additional improvement brought on by additional therapy would only be in the manner Bordeaux deals with his cognitive limitation. Neither doctor anticipated a decrease in the underlying limitation itself. Looking at the record as a whole, there is substantial evidence for the conclusion that Bordeaux’s cognitive limitation had “continued for a lengthy period, and it appear[ed] to be of lasting or indefinite duration, as distinguished from one in which recovery merely awaits a normal healing period.” Watson, 400 F.2d at 654.