In this episode of P.I. Case Note, Michelle Wright examines the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission’s decision in Warren v Workers’ Compensation Regulator [2025] QIRC 298, which demonstrates how additional injuries in workers’ compensation claims can be successfully established even when symptoms emerge months after the initial accepted injury. The case involved Miss Warren, a Subway sandwich artist who slipped and fell while opening a cool room door in January 2022, had her right shoulder dislocation accepted by WorkCover, but whose cervical spine injury was initially rejected when she reported severe neck pain 15 months later—with the Commission ultimately accepting the neck injury as causally related to the original incident despite the delayed reporting.
The Commission’s comprehensive analysis reveals the proper approach to additional injuries in workers’ compensation claims when competing medical expert opinions conflict about causation. The Commission emphasised that it must “weigh and determine the probabilities as to the cause of injury having regard to the totality of the evidence” rather than simply choosing which expert it prefers. The key factual findings included: Miss Warren and her partner testified she felt pain through her shoulder up to her ear immediately after the incident; her physiotherapy intake form completed weeks after the injury documented neck pain complaints; the independent orthopaedic surgeon’s notes from May 2022 contained the words “neck pain” without context; and despite 12 months of shoulder treatment, her symptoms persisted such that doctors recommended an MRI in February 2023 to explore alternative causes, which revealed a large left paracentral disc protrusion requiring fusion surgery. The Commission rejected the neurosurgeon’s opinion that relied on the absence of contemporaneous reporting, noting he had dismissed the neck pain Miss Warren documented on his own intake form, stating: “One wonders what the purpose of the registration form is if the doctor does not pay any attention to its contents.” Applying “logic and common sense,” the Commission found it was not unusual that Miss Warren didn’t self-diagnose a neck injury when doctors focused on her shoulder, and that in the absence of improvement and presence of an MRI-confirmed pathology, the incident was a significant contributor to her cervical spine injury.
Listen below for Michelle Wright’s detailed analysis of this important decision on additional injuries in workers’ compensation claims and the critical role of intake forms. If you’re experiencing new symptoms or pain in different areas after a workplace injury, the experienced team at accident legal understands that additional injuries in workers’ compensation claims can be established even with delayed reporting when supported by proper evidence. As Queensland’s trusted personal injury lawyers, we know the critical importance of documenting all symptoms on intake forms for physiotherapists and independent medical examiners—these forms become key evidence when causation is disputed. Contact us for a free consultation on (07) 3740 0200—we’ll help you report additional injuries promptly, ensure all symptoms are properly documented in medical records and intake forms, and fight to establish causation even when insurers rely on delayed reporting to deny your claim.
