by steelmanlaw on Tue Dec 08, 2009 12:46 pm
It looks as though you meant to say "Applicant" rather than "Defendant" is now proceeding against the employer.
At any rate, there was the reported case of about 20 years ago where applicant had a timely orthopedic award, and subsequently started treating psych about seven years after date of injury, forensically related to the ortho award. The award did not mention psych and was not otherwise apparent within the five years.
The appellate body in question (either the WCAB or court of appeal) found that the psych treatment to be a compensable consequence and thus treatment therefor was reimbursable even though no timely petition to reopen to amend to add "psyche" had been filed. Thus, so long as the treatment for an otherwise compensable consequence derives from an injury found by an award made within the five years from date of injury, the treatment costs are reimbursable even though new and further disability thereon is beyond the Board's JDN. This point of law is pretty much noncontroversial so long as there is substantial medical evidence to supporting a finding that the newer medical condition is substantially caused by the original injury.
This would of course support treatment authorization/reimbursement for any compensable consequence reasonably experienced more than five years after date of the original injury. I hope this points you in the right direction.