Dismissal of the Appeal against the Revocation of the Disability Pension due to Breach of the Duty to Cooperate

Facts

B., born in 1958, was employed as the Director of Company X AG. In October 1997, he applied for disability benefits from the Disability Insurance (IV) after suffering whiplash of the cervical spine in a rear-end collision in January 1996. The IV office of the Canton of Zurich subsequently awarded him a full disability pension. In 2004 and 2007, pension review proceedings followed, during which the IV office ordered an interdisciplinary medical assessment. As B. did not undergo the ordered assessment at Institute Y, the IV office revoked the previously granted pension with effect from 1 March 2009. B. filed an appeal against this decision. The Social Insurance Court of the Canton of Zurich dismissed the appeal. The Federal Supreme Court also did not uphold the appeal in public law matters.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court stated that according to Art. 43 para. 2 ATSG, the insured person must undergo the medical or professional examinations necessary and reasonable for the assessment. If the insured person fails to comply with the duty to cooperate in an inexcusable manner, the insurance carrier may decide based on the files. As B. had refused the interdisciplinary…