Court Opinion

ID: 9593916
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:25:43.88611+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:04:21.506300
License: Public Domain

HUNTLEY, Justice,
concurring specially.
I concur in the result reached by the Commission and the majority opinion of Justice Bakes, while disapproving of one of the concepts which may or may not be intentionally expressed by the Commission.
The Commission in Conclusion No. II states:
In many cases, a claimant suffers a physical impairment, and the rating rendered for that impairment not adequately compensate the claimant for the loss of ability to engage in gainful activity. Such a circumstance occurs when the impairment is based upon discrete physiological deficits, such as loss of range of motion, but which does not include more subjective limitations, such as those caused by chronic pain. Where, as here, the impairment evaluation performed by the medical experts pursuant to I.C. § 72-424 includes such subjective factors as pain, it may not be appropriate for the Commission to add a further disability award pursuant to I.C. § 72-425. The Commission concludes that such is the case here. (Underscore added).
If what the Commission meant to say was that when pain has been considered in determining impairment, it cannot be further considered in connection with the nonmedical factors which might result in a disability rating higher than that rating *296based upon impairment alone, then I believe the Commission would be wrong.
In other words, pain might limit the physical range of motion of a person’s back resulting in an impairment of a certain percentage of the whole man. The presence of that pain, considered in connection with the nonmedical factors, also might justify a disability rating higher than the impairment rating.
Since I think the Commission understands the foregoing concepts and merely had inadvertent wording in its opinion, I concur in the result reached by the majority-