Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Richmond, B.C. (Mar 15/02) - If Glenn Hall doesn't start getting more money from the Worker's Compensation Board by today, he says he's going to stop eating.

"I'd rather me go on a hunger strike than my family suffer any more," he said. "I need some answers, I need to get more medical treatment."

He has dealt with the WCB for four-and-a-half years, and he had to sell his belongings after a WCB doctor's ruling resulted in his monthly payments being cut. Hall, 31, says he's desperate.

His story begins in late 1997. Hall had been trucking for RTL. When work stopped to wait for the ice road to be ready, he switched to a short-term delivery job with Petersen & Auger. On his fifth day of work, he felt something pop in his back while lifting a few cases of soft drinks. A few hours later he was in the emergency room with a lot of pain. He was told he had strained a muscle, and to take some rest.

Hall said he had no prior history of back pain.

He filed a claim with the WCB and followed the directions they gave him. His pain continued to worsen. He moved to Richmond, B.C. to escape the cold. In June 1998, he had an MRI scan and found that he had a herniated disc.

By February 2000, he was in the hospital for his second surgery. The scar tissue from the two operations left him with debilitating pain -- and something worse: occasional paralysis.

"I walk with a cane, but some days I can't walk at all. When I wake up, my legs are paralyzed," he said.

He finally saw a WCB medical awards medical advisor last July. Dr. W. P. Barton examined him in Richmond for 45 minutes, and decided that Hall was only 18 per cent disabled. Other doctors -- including his family physician, Dr. Allan Horii, of Richmond -- say that decision might be wrong.

"He is having constant intractable back pain, and that would very likely prohibit employment in any occupation at this point," said Horii. "Unfortunately, the likelihood of this getting better in time is pretty poor."

The WCB decision dropped his monthly payments from $1,700 to $350. To support his wife and two step-children, he sold his 17-foot boat and his 1987 Pontiac. He borrowed money from family and friends. He can no longer afford to maintain an e-mail address. His wife, a nurse, now works as many as 300 hours a month.

Four-and-a-half years after his back popped, Hall has no options for work. The 18 per cent ruling meant the WCB cut off funding for physiotherapy. It also meant that the WCB should be helping Hall find another job, he says.

"As far as they're concerned, I should get off my lazy ass and get a job," he said. But he says the WCB can't come up with a single job he could work at.

He has applied to the WCB's appeals tribunal to get the 18 per cent overturned, but was told that might take eight months.

"What would happen if I was the breadwinner in this family?" he said.

The WCB has a three-part appeals process. The first step is an internal review. Then an internal review panel. Lastly, an independent tribunal.

Dan Short is vice-chair of the eight-person tribunal. Each panel hearing is attended by three people. The tribunal currently has 13 people waiting for hearings; it hears about two to four per month.

Short said it takes so long because tribunal members are paid part-time and a number of steps need to be taken before a hearing. Files are reviewed and summarized by full-time registrars.

Tribunal members read the summaries, then request additional information -- legal advice or more doctor's opinions -- if needed. Thirty days notice is given before the hearing. The tribunal then has 30 days to render a decision.