The claimant filed a LAT Application seeking a determination of catastrophic impairment under Criteria 8. At the outset of the hearing, the claimant raised a motion to have the insurer’s psychology report excluded because the psychologist had passed away and could not be cross-examined. Adjudicator Norris allowed the insurer to rely on the report but advised that the weight it held would reflect the claimant’s inability to cross-examine the author of the report. Causation was an issue in the hearing. The claimant had pre-existing diabetes and brain lesions and had been approved for CPP-D benefits. Adjudicator Norris found that the claimant’s psychiatry assessor overstated the claimant’s pre-accident functioning and attributed her post-accident functioning to her accident-related injuries without full consideration of the claimant’s physical issues (as opposed to mental/behavioral issues) which impaired her functioning. Adjudicator Norris held that an analysis of mental and behavioral impairments must exclude impairments that are caused by physical injuries. The claimant was determined not to be catastrophically impaired.
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