 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Young v. Hickory Business Furniture3/21/2000
Appeal by defendants from opinion and award entered 28 January 1999 by the North Carolina Industrial Commission. Heard in the Court of Appeals 26 January 2000.
Hickory Business Furniture ("defendant-employer") and its insurance servicing agent, Alexsis, Inc., (collectively, "defendants") appeal from an opinion and award of the North Carolina Industrial Commission ("the Commission") finding and concluding that Judy Carolyn Young ("plaintiff") experienced a substantial change of condition within the meaning of section 97-47 of the North Carolina General Statutes. Having carefully examined defendants' assignments of error, we affirm the Commission's opinion and award.
Plaintiff strained her back on 3 March 1992 while picking up a piece of furniture. At the time of the admittedly compensable injury , plaintiff was forty-eight years old and had been employed with defendant-employer for six years. Dr. Robert Hart, a family practitioner who served as defendant-employer's physician, initially treated plaintiff's injury and recommended physical therapy for her complaints of mid-back pain. Plaintiff's symptoms persisted, however, so Dr. Hart referred her to Dr. H. Grey Winfield, III, an orthopedist. Dr. Winfield's examination found plaintiff to have full range of motion in the lower extremity, to be a bit histrionic in her heel-toe walk, and to exhibit some symptom magnification. Dr. Winfield continued to treat plaintiff through 21 May 1992, after which plaintiff did not return for a follow-up assessment.
On her own, plaintiff sought treatment from Bruce Hilton, D.C., a chiropractor, on 9 November 1992, and on 20 July 1993, he rated her as retaining a 5% permanent partial impairment to her back. At the time of the rating, plaintiff continued to experience pain in her back and right hip and tingling in her right leg. The pain never ceased following plaintiff's initial treatment by the various doctors and, instead, increased gradually over time. Plaintiff, therefore, returned to Dr. Hilton for chiropractic treatment of a "popping" right hip on 20 August 1994. Dr. Hilton testified that plaintiff's condition appeared to be the same as when she originally sought his treatment, but the condition had substantially worsened. On 19 October 1994, when plaintiff could no longer physically perform her job , Karen Hightower, plaintiff's supervisor, terminated plaintiff's employment.
On 19 June 1995, plaintiff began treatment with Dr. Dennis Payne, a rheumatologist with expertise concerning fibromyalgia, a chronic muscular pain syndrome that is associated with a non-restorative sleep pattern. Dr. Payne diagnosed plaintiff as having reactive fibromyalgia resulting from her 3 March 1992 compensable injury .
Plaintiff returned to Dr. Winfield on 2 August 1995 complaining of neck and bilateral arm pain. She also complained of swelling in the hands and back pain that radiated from the neck through the lumbar area and into both legs. Dr. Winfield examined plaintiff and found her to be neurologically intact with a full range of motion for the hips, knees and ankles. Dr. Winfield conducted a series of diagnostic tests, the results of which were normal, and determined that plaintiff's condition was much worse than when he last saw her on 21 May 1992. He concluded, however, that the present symptoms were not causally related to the prior compensable injury .
Plaintiff filed a Form 33, Request for Hearing, on 10 January 1995, alleging a substantial change of condition. The case came on for hearing before Deputy Commissioner Lorrie L. Dollar, who entered an opinion and award on 18 October 1996 finding and concluding that plaintiff had sustained a substantial change of condition
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 North Carolina Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|