Opinion
NO. 2016-CA-000217-WC
12-09-2016
JAMIE WEIR APPELLANT v. BAPTIST HEALTH MADISONVILLE; HONORABLE CHRIS DAVIS, ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE; AND WORKERS' COMPENSATION BOARD APPELLEES
BRIEF FOR APPELLANT: James "Chip" Adams, II Madisonville, Kentucky BRIEF FOR APPELLEES: Douglas A. U'Sellis Louisville, Kentucky
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED PETITION FOR REVIEW OF THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION BOARD
NO. WC-14-86366 OPINION
AFFIRMING
* * * * * *
BEFORE: KRAMER, CHIEF JUDGE; DIXON AND TAYLOR, JUDGES. TAYLOR, JUDGE: Jamie Weir petitions this Court to review a January 21, 2016, Opinion of the Workers' Compensation Board that affirmed the dismissal of her claim by the Administrative Law Judge. We affirm.
Weir was employed by Baptist Health Madisonville as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) beginning in 2011. On April 18, 2014, Weir was assisting a patient to a wheelchair when the wheelchair started to slide away, so Weir used her left leg to hold the wheelchair in place while transferring the patient to the wheelchair. Immediately thereafter, Weir stated that her lower back and left leg felt strained and achy, but resolved that night. The next day, April 19, 2104, Weir reported that she was assisting a patient, who weighed approximately 220 pounds, from bed to a chair. While assisting the patient, Weir stated that the patient's knees buckled, and his full weight leaned upon her. While trying to hold the patient, Weir testified that she felt a "horrible pain" in her lower back, left hip, and left leg; the pain was sharp and shooting. Thereafter, a lumbar myelogram and MRI revealed that Weir suffered from a L5-S1 disc protrusion with stenosis. As a result, Weir underwent a left L5-S1 lumbar discectomy.
Weir subsequently filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits. On her Form 101, Weir asserted that she suffered a work-related injury on April 18, 2014, and described the injury as occurring when she was assisting a patient who began to fall and she "had to catch the full weight of the falling patient."
In her Form 101, Jamie Weir mistakenly identified the date of her alleged work-related injury as April 18, 2014, while describing the operative facts of her alleged work-related injury that occurred on April 19, 2014.
In a June 25, 2015, Opinion and Order, the ALJ dismissed Weir's claim for workers' compensation benefits and found that Weir did not suffer a compensable work-related injury on April 18, 2014. The ALJ noted that Weir was involved in a motor vehicle accident in 1995 and sustained a compression fracture to the L1 vertebra. The ALJ also pointed out that Weir was prescribed several pain medications for chronic low back pain prior to the work-related event on April 18. Relying upon Dr. Jenna Lee's opinion, the ALJ found the work-related event on April 18 was merely the progression of a pre-existing active condition:
Although the Administrative Law Judge identified April 18, 2014, as the date of the work-related traumatic event, the ALJ considered the operative facts of the April 19, 2014, traumatic work-related event in the June 25, 2015, Opinion and Order.
[Weir's] immediate past history of low back pain and treatment is more persuasive to me. For several months prior to the alleged date of injury herein she sought medical treatment with Dr. Galloway and routinely complained of severe low back pain. The pain was at least severe enough that Dr. Galloway prescribed her hydrocodone, Trazadone, and Gabapentin and to send her to physical therapy.Opinion and Order at 9.
It is logical and allowed to conclude, as does Dr. Lee and myself, that the pain felt on April 18, 2014[,] was no more than the natural progression of a pre-existing, active condition which was in no way caused, worsened or exacerbated by the alleged work incident.[]
Dr. Jenna Lee also identified April 18, 2014, as the date of the work-related incident, but she, as did the ALJ, actually considered the work-related event that occurred on April 19, 2014.
Being dissatisfied with the ALJ's dismissal of her claim, Weir sought review with the Board. By Opinion and Order entered January 21, 2016, the Board concluded that sufficient evidence existed in the record to affirm the ALJ's dismissal of Weir's claim. This review follows.
Our review of the Board's opinion is limited. We must determine whether "the Board has overlooked or misconstrued controlling statutes or precedent, or committed an error in assessing the evidence so flagrant as to cause gross injustice." W. Baptist Hospital v . Kelly, 827 S.W.2d 685, 687-88 (Ky. 1992). To do so, we also review the opinion of the ALJ, and as fact-finder, it is within the sole province of the ALJ to assess the credibility of testimony and weight of the evidence. As the ALJ dismissed Weir's claim, Weir must demonstrate that the evidence compels a finding in her favor in order to be successful. See Wolf Creek Collieries v. Crum, 673 S.W.2d 735 (Ky. App. 1984). Weir contends that the ALJ erred by finding that Weir suffered from a pre-existing active condition and that she suffered no compensable work-related injury on April 18, 2014. Weir asserts that "there is no evidence to support that there was any prior issues with the discs that was injured on April 18, 2014, which was L5-S1." Weir's Brief at 7. Weir argues that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that she suffered a separate and distinct compensable work-related injury at L5-S1 on April 18, 2014.
In her brief, Weir also misstates the injury date as April 18, 2014, instead of April 19, 2014. For the sake of clarity, we will also use the April 18 date throughout our Opinion. --------
KRS 342.0011(1) defines a compensable injury as a "work-related traumatic event . . . arising out of and in the course of employment which is the proximate cause producing a harmful change." In the June 25, 2014, Opinion and Order dismissing Weir's claim, the ALJ found that Weir did not suffer a compensable work-related injury on April 18, 2014. To support same, the ALJ relied upon Dr. Jenna Lee, who opined in relevant part:
0% of the impairment is causally related to the April 18, 2014[,] injury. Treatment for her chronic low back pain and left lower extremity pain was wholly related to a chronic active pre-existing condition.Considering the above medical testimony of Dr. Lee, we cannot conclude that the record compels a finding that Weir suffered a compensable work-related injury on April 18, 2014. While we might not have viewed the evidence in the same light as the ALJ, the ALJ was well-within his discretion in relying upon Dr. Lee's testimony and affording it great weight.
Clearly, Ms. Weir had pre-existing, on-going chronic low back pain. She is frank in that she had a very mild L1 compression fracture many years ago as a result of a motor vehicle accident. This should not have resulted in chronic low back pain and lower extremity pain requiring escalating dosages of Neurontin and hydrocodone as indicated in her primary care physician's progress notes prior to her work injury of 04/18/2014. I believe within a reasonable degree of medical certainty that she was being actively treated with the gabapentin, the IM steroid injections, oral NSAIDS, the Toradol injections, hydrocodone, and physical therapy etc., for the same complaints and symptoms for which she was treated subsequent to her 04/18/2014 minor work injury. The specifics of her supposed work injury indicate a very mild "trauma" that would be unlikely to result in a significant, acute exacerbation of low back pain and radiculopathy. . .
Weir next argues that the ALJ failed to make sufficient findings of fact in the June 25, 2015, Opinion and Order to enable a meaningful review by the Board and this Court. We disagree.
It is well-established that an ALJ must set forth the conflicting evidence and the evidence supporting each finding of fact in order to permit review as mandated by KRS 342.285. Arnold v. Toyota Motor Mfg., 375 S.W.3d 56 (Ky. 2012). In the June 25, 2015, Opinion and Order, the ALJ did summarize the evidence, including the conflicting medical opinions, and the underlying facts of the work-related event. The ALJ also particularly found that Weir did not suffer a compensable work-related injury and directly stated that Dr. Lee's opinion was the evidentiary basis of such finding. Upon the whole, we agree with the Board and conclude that the ALJ provided a sufficiently detailed opinion to permit a meaningful review. See Arnold, 375 S.W.3d 56.
To summarize, we cannot say that the Board committed error in assessing the evidence or in construing controlling precedent or statutes. See W. Baptist Hospital , 827 S.W.2d 685. We, thus, hold that the Board properly affirmed the ALJ's dismissal of Weir's claim.
For the foregoing reasons, the Opinion of the Workers' Compensation Board is affirmed.
ALL CONCUR. BRIEF FOR APPELLANT: James "Chip" Adams, II
Madisonville, Kentucky BRIEF FOR APPELLEES: Douglas A. U'Sellis
Louisville, Kentucky