BRADLEY WEST, Petitioner,
v.
BASF CORPORATION
And
INDEMNITY INSURANCE CO. OF NORTH AMERICA, Respondents.
No. 16-0787
Utah Workers Compensation Decisions
Utah Labor Commission
December 23, 2020
ORDER
DISMISSING REQUEST FOR RECONSIDERATION
Kathleen Bounous, Chair
Bradley
West asks the Appeals Board of the Utah Labor Commission to
reconsider its remand for further proceedings of Mr.
West’s claim for benefits under the Utah Workers’
Compensation Act, Title 34A, Chapter 2, Utah Code Annotated.
The
Appeals Board exercises jurisdiction over this matter
pursuant to §63G-4-302 of the Utah Administrative
Procedures Act.
BACKGROUND
AND ISSUE PRESENTED
Mr.
West claims workers’ compensation benefits, including
permanent total disability compensation, stemming from
occupational exposure between March 12, 2015, and March 6,
2016, and an accident that occurred on March 12, 2015, while
he was working for BASF. Mr. West’s claim for benefits
is based on respiratory conditions—chronic bronchitis
and eosinophilic pneumonia—he attributes to the
occupational exposure and work accident in question. Judge
Holley held an evidentiary hearing and referred the medical
aspects of Mr. West’s claim to an impartial medical
panel.
The
medical panel explained that the paucity of information and
studies on eosinophilic pneumonia made it so “a
reasonable degree of medical probability cannot be achieved
given the state of clinical science” on the question of
whether such exposure medically caused Mr. West’s
eosinophilic pneumonia. The panel reasoned that the evidence
supported “a strong possibility” that Mr.
West’s condition developed because he suffered massive
exposure to certain chemicals used in his employment with
BASF. The panel outlined the medical care necessary to treat
Mr. West’s respiratory conditions and assigned a 13%
whole person impairment rating for such conditions.
Judge
Holley read the medical panel’s conclusions as
indicative of a medical causal connection between Mr.
West’s respiratory problems and his work-related
exposure and therefore relied on...
