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Shivel v. Wexford Health Sources3/11/2003
__ P.3d __
ON CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS, DIVISION I
Sandra Shivel, worked for a private healthcare provider and was required to have contact with prisoners. In this job she was attacked by an inmate and suffered physical injuries for which she received temporary total disability compensation . She also sought to be compensated for psychological overlay. The employer moved for termination of temporary total disability. One doctor reported that Shivel's need for psychological treatment was due to the incident itself rather than the physical injury. Based upon this report, further disability benefits and psychological treatment were terminated as "not related, reasonable or necessary to the physical injuries sustained in the accidental injury." The Court of Civil Appeals vacated the order denying claimant's request for psychological treatment in Virginia, and temporary total disability benefits, and remanded the claim for reconsideration of the previously submitted medical evidence.
CERTIORARI PREVIOUSLY GRANTED; COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS OPINION VACATED; ORDER OF THE TRIAL COURT REVERSED.
The issue on review is whether a psychological overlay is compensable where it arises out of and in the course of a claimant's employment and results from the same incident which caused physical injury, but is alleged by the respondent to not be caused by the physical injury.
SUMMARY OF FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Sandra Shivel, worked for a private healthcare provider, Wexford Health Sources, which required her to have contact with prisoners. On April 28, 1998, she was attacked by an inmate and suffered physical injuries to her clavicle, back and neck, for which she received temporary total disability compensation . She had also sought to be compensated for psychological overlay. A doctor was appointed to assess her alleged psychological overlay and to determine whether further benefits and treatment were necessary, while another independent medical examiner determined if further treatment was necessary for the physical injuries.
On the psychological overlay issue, the first doctor reported that the claimant was ready for a "full duty release with permanent restrictions." Since that time, Shivel relocated to Virginia. The employer, based on the doctor's report, moved for termination of temporary total disability. The trial judge supplemented his previous order by requiring the doctor to determine causation with respect to psychological overlay.
The doctor reported that Shivel's need for psychological treatment was due to the incident itself rather than the physical injury. Based upon this report, further disability benefits and psychological treatment were terminated as "not related, reasonable or necessary to the physical injuries sustained in the accidental injury."
The Court of Civil Appeals vacated the order denying claimant's request for psychological treatment in Virginia, and temporary total disability benefits, and remanded the claim for reconsideration of the previously submitted medical evidence. On Certiorari, employer now argues that the psychological injury suffered by Shivel as a result of her on-the-job stabbing, cannot be compensable because the psychological injury did not originate from the physical injury. We find this argument to be unpersuasive.
ANALYSIS
In Wal Mart Stores v. Reinholtz, 1998 OK 11, 955 P.2d 223, a rape was found to have arisen out of and in the course of employment. This Court, on the issue of psychological overlay, noted that 85 O.S.Supp. 1992 ยง3(7)(c), the statute in effect at the time of the claimants injuries, provi
Page 1 2 Oklahoma Personal Injury Attorneys
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