Split Supreme Court Overturns Award for Hearing Loss

A divided West Virginia Supreme Court overturned an award of benefits to a worker for his hearing loss, finding another evaluation needed to be performed to assess the permanent impairment. Case: Welch Emergency Hospital v. Steele, No. 20-0303, 06/23/2021, published. Facts: In May 2016, Milton Steele went to the Welch Audiology Clinic about his hearing loss. He reported a family history of hearing loss as well as occupational noise exposure. An audiologist determined Steele had hearing loss, most pronounced in the higher frequencies, as well as disability in speech discrimination. The audio...