U.S. judge rules ex-dockworker’s disability is permanent

When a Bay Area dockworker took early retirement in 2002 because of constant pain from a knee injury suffered at work 15 years earlier, workers’ compensation judges classified his disability as “temporary” because it might be eased by future surgery.

The former worker, Robert Carrion, is entitled to permanent disability benefits until he’s able to work again, if that ever occurs, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Carrion was a chassis mechanic for Matson Terminals in Oakland when he suffered a torn cartilage and ligament in his right knee in January 1987.

The possibility of future surgery isn’t enough to reclassify a disability, the court said, because the operation might not work, the patient might decide against it, or future medical advances could lead to additional medical interventions.