The claimant sought entitlement to income replacement benefits and to medical benefits proposed in eight treatment plans, and the cost of $26,400 for catastrophic impairment assessments. The claimant argued that he suffered from pre-existing lower back pain which was exacerbated as a result of the accident and would prevent him from reaching maximum recovery under the MIG. Adjudicator Lester found that the claimant’s pre-existing strains did not remove him from the MIG and the claimant did not have a chronic pain disorder, therefore, the MIG limits applied. Adjudicator Lester concluded that the claimant exhausted all funding under the MIG and he was not entitled to any of the treatment plans in dispute. Adjudicator Lester found that the claimant suffered a substantial inability to perform the essential tasks of his employment and was entitled to IRB for a period of four months. Adjudicator Lester noted that the claimant was also entitled to interest for the IRB.
