When Medical History Tells a Different Story

From the Desk of:

Bruce A. Little

Managing Attorney, Los Angeles County

Every once in a while, you have an applicant who helps you out. 

I had a recent case in which one of the applicant’s allegations involved hearing loss in her right ear, which she blamed on a history of exposure to the loud noise of machinery for more than a decade. The applicant wore earplugs at work and had annual audiogram tests. When she was first seen by the ENT panel QME, it was determined that she had work-related tinnitus, and a full audiogram was requested. 

In the meantime, the applicant was also seen by an orthopedic panel QME. In providing a medical history to him, instead of providing the history of exposure to noise at work causing her hearing loss, the applicant admitted that she had difficulty hearing from her right ear since an infection caused a rupture of her membrane, 8 to 10 years earlier. Since then, she has had frequent ringing in her right ear. 

This information was provided to the ENT panel QME. This information, along with the full audiogram that was obtained, proved that her right ear showed no evidence of acoustic trauma that would cause work-related tinnitus. The QME determined that the tinnitus was the result of damage in the right ear caused by infection and there was no work-related impairment.