Another of the many changes wrought by the 2003 amendments to the Florida Workers' Compensation Law was one changing the standards for awards of permanent total disability benefits. The impetus for this particular change apparently was the finding by FCCI in 2003 that permanent total disability claims in Florida were five (5) times the national average. See Staff Analysis SB50-A, page 7. Under the legislative reforms which had been enacted in 1993 and which were in effect up until 10/1/2003, permanent total disability benefits were awardable in cases of "catastrophic injury," which was defined to incorporate the standards for awarding disability benefits used by the Social Security Administration. See §440.02(38)(f), Fla. Stat. (Supp. 2002).
In order to remedy the perceived problem of too many permanent total disability claims, the 2003 Florida Legislature amended the statute to delete "catastrophic injury" – and specifically the Social Security disability standards - as a condition for an award of permanent total disability benefits.
Instead, the Legislature set out certain severe medical conditions such as paralysis, amputation, and blindness, where permanent total disability would be presumed. See §440.15(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2003). In all other cases, however, the Legislature imposed the following test:
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