The 92-year-old mowed down on a Yonge Street sidewalk during last year’s van attack has now been declared “catastrophically” injured by medical experts hired by the insurance company that has been withholding benefit payments for her care.That “catastrophic” designation — declared by four medical professionals who assessed her in January on behalf of AIG Insurance — should pave the way for dramatically better coverage for Aleksandra Kozhevnikova, the retired widow and grandmother whose story touched the city following a January Toronto Star investigation into allegations that tens of thousands of dollars worth of care wasn’t being paid.A neurologist, orthopedic surgeon, occupational therapist and neuropsychologist — all acting for AIG — concluded Kozhevnikova’s combined physical and non-physical injuries place her at “75 per cent whole person impairment.”That conclusion means Kozhevnikova could now be eligible for up to $1 million in coverage for attendant care and rehabilitation — a huge spike from her existing coverage which is capped at $65,000 for both. “I have a feeling of gratitude toward everyone,” she said in Russian through a translator this week. Before being hit during the April 23, 2018 terrorist attack in which a van, allegedly driven by Alek Minassian, plowed down pedestrians on Yonge Street, Kozhenvnikova was a “relatively healthy individual,” the medical assessment reads. Today, she suffers from a neck fracture, spinal strains, post-traumatic stress disorder, despression, cognitive disorder and pain, it concludes. One of the medical assessors, orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Cameron Paitich, concluded Kozhevnikova has “a significant disability in ambulatory function necessitating the use of a walker and a wheelchair. This is permanent in nature.”Michael Taylor, a partner with Toronto law firm Taylor, Baber and Mergui, which is represent ...
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