TULSA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION VISION AND HEARING LOSS CASES

For the loss of an eye, two hundred seventy-five (275) weeks. permanent loss of use of a eye shall be considered as the equivalent of the loss of such eye.

deafness from industrial cause, including occupations which are hazardous to hearing, accident or sudden trauma, three hundred thirty (330) weeks, and total deafness of one ear from industrial cause, including occupations which are hazardous to hearing, accident or sudden trauma, one hundred ten (110) weeks. Except as otherwise provided herein, any examining physician shall only evaluate deafness or hearing impairment in accordance with the latest publication of the American Medical Association’s “Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment” in effect at the time of the injury. the guides shall be the exclusive basis for testimony and conclusions with regard to deafness or hearing impairment. and all evaluations shall include an apportionment of injury causation

for the permanent partial loss of hearing or sight of an eye, seventy percent (70%) of the employee’s average weekly wage during that portion of the number of weeks in the foregoing schedule provided for the loss of sight of an eye which the partial loss of use thereof bears to the total loss of hearing or sight of an eye.

The State Industrial Court previously had published the Snellen Chart as the criteria for measuring and calculating the percentage of eye impairment in a single eye.  This method of rating eye injuries has been accepted and approved by the ophthalmological Section of the American Medical Association.  Physicians may continue to use these criteria in the future.  The workers compensation act privides that eye impairment is a scheduled member loss.  That section states that loss of an eye shall be compensable by the payment of a specified number of weeks of permanent partial disability benefits.  however, industrial blindness, in both eyes, according to 85 section 3 3(20), means the claimant is permanently and totally disabled by statutory definition regardless of claimant’s capacity to earn any wages in any occupation.  Therefore, any computation or conversion of any loss of vision in one eye into the whole man (as done by the American Medical Association’s “Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment”) is clearly incorrect according to Oklahoma law.  However, partial loss of vision in both eyes may be combined into the whole man provided that the physician states the evaluation of the loss of each eye separately and then evaluates the combination.

the physician should consult with the “Guides” regarding the equipment necessary to test the function of eyes and for the methods of evaluation.  the following Snellen Chart may then be used for computing the percentage if visual efficiency.  It should be noted that all measurements shall be based upon uncorrected vision

The court recognizes that visual acuity for distance and near is only one of the functions of the eye.  Therefore, the physician may wish to consider the visual fields and ocular motility with absence of diplopia.  Evaluation of visual impairment may be based upon all three of these functions.  Although they are not equally important, vision is imperfect without the coordinated function of all three.

A physician may deviate from this method of evaluation or may use some other recognized method of evaluation PROVIDED the deviation or the method of evaluation is fully explained.

Oklahoma case law has defined industrial blindness as being 20/200.  Therefore, the court has modified the Snellen Chart to show 100 percent loss to an eye at 20/200 even though the Chart whould normally show such loss to be 80 percent.  Likewise, it is not necessary to show the percentage loss of vision above 20/200 since there can be no loss greater than 100 percent.