Tim Lemke of Swift Currie. (Courtesy photo)
Swift Currie attorney Tim Lemke approached the state Court of Appeals on behalf of the city of Atlanta on Tuesday to clarify administrative rule construction in the state Workers’ Compensation Act on Tuesday.
The issue at hand is what doctors have the authority to issue work releases for employees and whether an existing authorized treating physician can confer that title and authority onto a referral doctor. The devil is in the details—specifically whether the phrase “employees’ authorized treating physician” should be read with the article “an” or “the” in front of it. That is, are there one or multiple authorized treating physicians?
