85A.25  Existing diseases barred.
  There shall be no liability for the payment of compensation under the provisions of this chapter to any person who on October 1, 1947, is suffering with an occupational disease. An employer may at the employer’s own expense require the employer’s employees to submit to a physical examination prior to October 1, 1947, and in the case of new employees employed after July 4, 1947, within ninety days of the commencement of the employment of such new employees, for the purpose of determining whether any such person is affected with or has an occupational disease. In the event it is determined by such examination that any employee is suffering from or is affected with an occupational disease, the employer may require the employee to waive in writing any claim for compensation under the provisions of this chapter on account thereof as a condition to continuing in the employment of the employer.
  In cases of dispute as to the existence of the disease the controversy may be referred to the workers’ compensation commissioner who shall decide the matter and who may, upon the commissioner’s own motion or by agreement of the parties, submit the controverted question to the physicians designated in section 85A.20 for investigation and report, and the physicians shall immediately proceed with the investigation and with the examination of the employee and forthwith make the report to the workers’ compensation commissioner. The examination shall be made and the investigation conducted in the same manner as is provided in this chapter as to other controverted medical questions. The workers’ compensation commissioner shall then make the decision on the matter, and the decision shall have the same force and effect and be subject to all the other provisions of law applicable the same as any other decision of the workers’ compensation commissioner.
[C50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §85A.25]
86 Acts, ch 1245, §910; 98 Acts, ch 1061, §11