Wagner v. Jeld Wen

When establishing a compensable injury under ORS 656.005(7)(a), the claimant must show that his actual injury originated from a work related incident and this incident caused him to seek medical attention.

Petitioner Wagner sought judicial review of a Worker's Compensation Board (Board) decision that he failed to meet his burden of proof in showing a causal connection between a work incident and his pursuit of medical service. ORS 656.005(7)(a) requires that for a compensable injury demanding medical services to qualify, it must originate out of an event occurring during employment. Wagner asserted that the Board had erred because the workplace incident materially contributed to his pursuit of medical services. The Court of Appeals determined that because Wagner's pursuit of medical services were a result of pain occurring two days after the workplace incident and were established by a medical expert to have not been caused by the workplace incident, Wagner failed to establish his burden of proof. Subsequently, the Board had not erred. Affirmed.