Senate Bill No. 375
(By Senator Wooton)
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[Introduced February 17, 1994; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section eight, article four, chapter
twenty-three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to workers'
compensation; disability and death benefits; and providing
for compensation when a claimant is injured while traveling
to or from a physical examination required by the
commissioner or an employer.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight, article four, chapter twenty-three of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. DISABILITY AND DEATH BENEFITS.
§23-4-8. Physical examination of claimant.
The commissioner shall have authority, after due notice to
the employer and claimant, whenever in the commissioner's opinion
it shall be necessary, to order a claimant of compensation for a
personal injury other than occupational pneumoconiosis to appearfor examination before a medical examiner or examiners selected
by the commissioner; and the claimant and employer, respectively,
shall each have the right to select a physician of the claimant's
or the employer's own choosing and at the claimant's or the
employer's own expense to participate in such examination. All
such examinations shall be performed in accordance with the
protocols and procedures established by the health care advisory
panel pursuant to section three-b of this article:
Provided,
That
the physician may exceed these protocols when additional
evaluation is medically necessary. The claimant and employer
shall, respectively, be furnished with a copy of the report of
examination made by the medical examiner or examiners selected by
the commissioner. The respective physicians selected by the
claimant and employer shall have the right to concur in any
report made by the medical examiner or examiners selected by the
commissioner, or each may file with the commissioner a separate
report, which separate report shall be considered by the
commissioner in passing upon the claim. If the compensation
claimed is for occupational pneumoconiosis, the commissioner
shall have the power, after due notice to the employer, and
whenever in the commissioner's opinion it shall be necessary, to
order a claimant to appear for examination before the
occupational pneumoconiosis board hereinafter provided. In any
case the claimant shall be entitled to reimbursement for loss of
wages, and to reasonable traveling and other expenses necessarily
incurred by him or her in obeying such order.
Where the claimant is required to undergo a medical
examination or examinations by a physician or physicians selected
by the employer, as aforesaid or in connection with any claim
which is in litigation, the employer shall reimburse the claimant
for loss of wages, and reasonable traveling and other expenses in
connection with such examination or examinations, not to exceed
the expenses paid when a claimant is examined by a physician or
physicians selected by the commissioner.
Any person, who sustains an injury from an accident while
traveling either to or from a medical examination upon the order
of the commissioner or upon the request of an employer, is
considered to have been injured in the course of his employment
and entitled to all benefits provided for in this chapter.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to declare that persons,
who are injured in an accident while traveling to or from a
medical examination ordered by the Commissioner or requested by
an employer, are considered to have been injured in the course of
employment and entitled to benefits.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.