EMA's Opinions Inconclusive: What to Do?
What happens if the JCC appoints an expert medical advisor ("EMA") to resolve a conflict in the medical testimony, but the EMA fails to express an opinion on the issue? That's what happened in Fitzgerald v. Osceola County School Board, decided on 2/19/2008. The JCC had used the EMA's testimony in support of his conclusion that the claimant's respiratory problems were unrelated to her employment. Concluding that the EMA had actually expressed no conclusive opinions on the issues, the court reversed and remanded to the JCC for further consideration, saying that such testimony from the EMA, though inconclusive, nevertheless "established a metric by which the JCC might measure the credibility and and weight of all the other evidence presented...."
