Injured pension is also available for unilateral arthrosis in the knee

Court verdict: Injured pension even with unilateral arthrosis in the knee

Many craft trades are associated with enormous physical strain. Not infrequently, this has health consequences. So too with a plumber who contracted an arthrosis in his knee after years of work. After a court decision, he is now entitled to an injury pension.

For years worked on his knees
Around five million people in Germany suffer from osteoarthritis. The disease is associated with severe pain and stiffness of the affected joints. Often, the complaints are so severe that those affected can no longer or only partially work. This is what happened to a worker who now achieved a success in court. As the news agency dpa reports, the craftsman worked over 13,000 hours as a gas and water fitter.

During this activity, he put his knee on at least one hour per shift. This eventually led to his contracting a knee joint arthrosis. Since the arthrosis occurred only at one knee, the professional association doubted their professional cause and therefore rejected the recognition of an occupational disease. The man then went to court. There the plaintiff got law.

Unilateral arthrosis in the knee
If a craftsman suffers from unilateral knee arthrosis, it can be recognized as an occupational disease and compensated. Compared to the professional association, the person concerned then has a right to an injury pension. The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialrecht of the Deutscher Anwaltverein (DAV) has pointed this out. I refer the DAV to a judgment of the Social Court Dortmund (Ref .: S 18 U 113/10). Accordingly, the professional association had to grant the man an injury pension. The unilaterally pronounced knee joint disease of the plaintiff corresponded to his years of knee-bearing work posture in the so-called "fencing".

Court gives the plaintiff justice
The man plausibly demonstrated the unilateral load with the predominant knees on the right knee and flexion in the left knee. That speaks for the fact that the illness is for professional reasons. Only with a symmetrical load on the knees should a symmetrical distribution of the damage be expected. The preponderance of the man also does not stand in the way of recognition as an occupational disease as a possible cause, since there is also a clinical picture resulting from the work.

The official list of occupational diseases included more than 70 ailments that were proven to have been caused by the job last year, such as the classic lung cancer. But it is always extended. At the beginning of the year, several new diseases were added to the occupational diseases list. (Ad)