 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Ville Platte Medical Center v. Mcglynn3/6/2002
have been premature. Finally, the employer points to reports from Dr. Rees in July 1999, indicating that he felt Ms. McGlynn would be able to return to work in July 1999. However, Dr. Rees indicated that he felt that she could return to a work day of four hours per day, working at a sedentary position. Even if the workers' compensation judge had given weight to this prospect immediately prior to the employer's termination, the employer offered no evidence that a position along these lines was offered or available.
This assignment lacks merit.
Period of Disability
In what is essentially a continuation of the argument made in the above assignment, the employer contests that Ms. McGlynn was disabled until August 2000, one year after compensation benefits were terminated. Again, the employer contends that Ms. McGlynn's complaints were related to the December 1998 accident. The employer refers to a prior opinion of this court, Curtis v. Wet Solutions, Inc, 97-789 (La.App. 3 Cir. 12/09/98); 722 So.2d 421, for the proposition that aggravation of a pre-existing disease/infirmity is compensable if it appears that, prior to the work-related accident, disabling symptoms were not manifest, but that such disabling symptoms appeared afterwards and that medical or circumstantial evidence indicates a reasonable possibility of a causal connection. The employer contends that evidence of a causal connection is absent from the record. It argues that, instead, only Ms. McGlynn's testimony as to resolution of pain from the December 1998 automobile accident is present. As explained above, we find no error in the workers' compensation judge's determination that the evidence supported a finding of an exacerbation of the pre-existing injury .
Dr. Vidrine treated Ms. McGlynn following the automobile accident and, due to continuing complaints of pain, administered an injection on February 5, 1999, to alleviate her symptoms. Ms. McGlynn testified that a few days after the injection, her pain was lessened. She explained that she was able to work a sixteen-hour shift on the Monday following the injection and that, in the weeks between the injection and the work-related accident, she was able to work a forty-hour week. She testified, however, that after the lifting accident, she suffered from immediate pain. On the day after the lifting accident, Dr. Vidrine reported as follows in his notes:
This is a 32 year old, white female here today because of an exacerbation of some right SI pain that occurred in the ER while at work. We had seen her on 2-5 and injected her right SI because she kind of had a prolonged SI dysfunction. She had substantial benefit from the injection and she was able to return to work two or three days later and she did very well until she was pulling on a patient and had an exacerbation of her pain. It wasn't quite so bad as she finished her shift but it was much worse when she got home requiring narcotic analgesics in order to get relief. This morning she says that it is somewhat better. She had previously been worked up and this pain is not any different than what she had experienced it is just that it has recurred. Work up was negative for any type of herniated disk.
Dr. Vidrine's impression was reported as follows: "Exacerbation of a recently resolving right SI dysfunction with SI pain." Dr. Rees also testified that he felt Ms. McGlynn suffered from an exacerbation of her pre-existing condition and Dr. Hodges explained that lifting could cause such an exacerbation. Although these opinions are necessarily based on Ms. McGlynn's complaints and history given to the physicians, we find nothing in the record to require the workers' compensation judge to di
Page 1 2 3 4 5 Louisiana Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|