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Since the patient still claims back pain, he is not ready to go back to work at
this point.
Final disability grading: Grade 11 - 1/3 loss of lifting power of the
trunk.
Unfit for work.
Thank you.[39] (Emphasis supplied)
Noteworthy is the fact that, despite the issuance of a purportedly "final disability
grading" in the Disability Report, Razonable was still required to return almost a month
later for "re-evaluation with results" in the Medical Report issued on the same day.
Taking these two documents together, the medical assessment was clearly not a final
one because it still required further action on the part of the company-designated
physicians.[40]
Further, a cursory reading of the Disability Report would reveal that it was not definitive
and was, in fact, conflicting. While it indicated the supposed disability grading of
Razonable, it likewise stated that he was unfit for work. This cannot be deemed as a
valid and definite medical assessment.
The Court's ruling in Olidana v. Jebsens Maritime, Inc,[41] (Olidana) is instructive. In
Olidana, the company-designated physicians issued two medical reports, one stated
that the seafarer's disability grading is Grade 10 and the other stated that the seafarer
was "not fit for duty". The Court pointed out that the company-designated physicians
had issued conflicting medical reports and discussed the instances where the Court had
struck down medical reports of company-designated physicians for being tardy,
incomplete, and doubtful, viz.:
In Carcedo v. Maine Marine Phils., Inc., the seafarer's foot was wounded
while on duty. When he was repatriated, the company-designated physician
subjected him to a medical examination. Subsequently, the latter issued a
disability assessment stating that the seafarer merely had an "[i]mpediment
disability grading of 8% Loss of first toe (big toe) and some of its metatarsal
bone." Yet, the seafarer required further medical treatments, underwent
amputation, and subsequently passed away. The Court concluded that
the company-designated physician's disability assessment was not
definitive and, because it failed to issue a final assessment, the
seafarer therein was certainly under permanent total disability.
In Maunlad Trans, Inc. v. Camoral, which has a similar factual milieu with
the present case, the seafarer therein suffered from a cervical disc
herniation and radiculopathy while on the ship. Upon disembarkation and
after 150 days of treatment, the company-designated physician therein
issued a medical report indicating that the seafarer only suffered a Grade
10 disability. Curiously, a separate medical report of the companydesignated physician stated that the seafarer was unfit for sea duty. The
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