20 Nov 2018
Topping v Accident Compensation Corporation (Entitlement to Surgery)
- Citation
- [2018] NZACC 182
- Court
- District Court
The Court upheld ACC's decision because objective imaging and expert opinion (severe tendon retraction and moderate to severe fatty muscle atrophy) indicated longstanding rotator cuff pathology likely predating the accident, the mechanism described was unlikely to produce the extent of tendon disruption observed, and temporality and the treating surgeon's view alone were insufficient to establish that the surgery-treated tears were caused by the 2015 accident; therefore ACC properly declined funding for elective surgery.