(a) in any case--for a report in
respect of the injury or death to which the application relates, and
(b) in
the case of an application under section 19 (1)--for an assessment under
subsection (4).
(2) The Authority may, by notice served on an applicant for a
benefit under section 25, require the applicant to attend before a
medical panel or referee, at a time and place specified in the notice, for the
purpose of an examination by the medical panel or referee.
(3) An applicant
who:
(a) without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with the requirements of a
notice served on the applicant under subsection (2), or
shall, for the purposes
of subsection (4), be deemed not to have made himself or herself available for
examination by a medical panel or referee and to have withdrawn his or her
application.
(4) When an applicant for a benefit under this Act makes himself
or herself available for examination by a medical panel or referee to which or
whom his or her application has been referred under subsection (1), the
medical panel or referee shall:
(a) make an assessment that specifies:
(i) the
nature of the injury in respect of which the application was made, and
(ii)
where the injury is described in Table A of Schedule 1 by reference to a
prescribed percentage or is described in Part 1 of Table B of that
Schedule--the degree, having regard to subsection (5), of the permanent loss,
expressed in terms of a percentage, of any use or other capacity, referred to
in that Schedule, suffered by the applicant as a consequence of the injury,
and
(5) In making an assessment
under subsection (4), the medical panel or referee shall:
(a) assess any loss
of use or other capacity suffered by the applicant as a percentage of the
relevant use or other capacity enjoyed by the applicant immediately before the
injury was suffered, whether or not the applicant then was, or might have
been, subject to any disability, and
(b) report in the assessment upon any
relevant disability to which, in the opinion of the medical panel or referee,
as the case may be, the person was, or may have been, subject immediately
before the injury was suffered.
(5A) If the applicant has refused medical
treatment that the medical panel or referee considers would be likely to
result in an improvement in the applicant's condition, the assessment under
subsection (4) may be made on the assumption that the improvement likely to
result from the refused treatment has in fact occurred, but only if the
medical panel or referee is satisfied that the applicant's refusal of the
treatment is unreasonable.
(6) An applicant who attends before a
medical panel or referee in compliance with a notice served on the applicant
under subsection (2) is entitled to be paid by the Authority:
(a) the amount
of any wages lost by the applicant, and
(b) the cost to the applicant of any
fares, travelling expenses and maintenance necessarily and reasonably incurred
by the applicant,
(7) For the purposes of this Act, an assessment under
subsection (4) by a medical panel of the degree of an injury in respect of
which an amount of money is prescribed in Table A of Schedule 1 shall be
conclusive.