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Satilla Regional Medical Center v. Dixon5/27/1999
-037
This workers' compensation appeal is from the superior court's order reversing the award of the administrative law Judge, which was adopted by the State Board of Workers' Compensation Appellate Division. We granted Satilla Regional Medical Center's discretionary application to consider whether the superior court applied an incorrect standard of review in reversing the award of the State Board.
In his award, the ALJ made the following findings: Peggy Lee Dixon was a licensed practical nurse at Satilla, and her regular job was taking care of post-operative surgical patients, which required lifting and moving them. Dixon had suffered from back pain all her life. She also had high blood pressure, angina, and a host of other medical problems. As recently as two months prior to her alleged on-the-job injury , Dixon was hospitalized for chest pain and was prescribed medication for back pain at that time.
Dixon alleges she suffered a back injury on October 15, 1996, when she lifted a patient. She sought medical attention the next day, which revealed a possible small herniated disk at L5-S1. Dixon testified that she informed her supervisor of the injury on October 18, 1996, but her supervisor disputed this testimony and insisted that although Dixon informed her that her back hurt, she never mentioned an on-the-job injury.
Dixon did not work for the next two days. She returned to work for two days, but was then hospitalized for chest pain and elevated blood pressure. She complained of severe low back pain, but made no mention of the cause.
Satilla's risk manager visited her in the hospital. She told him that she thought that she had injured her back while working and wanted workers' compensation benefits. He questioned Dixon further, but she could not say where, when or how she was hurt and indicated that she had not reported the matter to her supervisor. On October 28, 1996, she underwent a heart catheterization, but afterwards complained to her doctor that her primary problem was lower back pain. She was examined by a neurosurgeon, who noted the small bulge at L5-S1, but did not believe it was significant or was the source of her severe pain.
Another neurosurgeon examined Dixon in January 1997, and she reported to him that her longstanding lower back pain increased substantially after lifting some patients in October 1996. This is the first undisputed instance of record where Dixon attributed her back pain to a work-related injury . Another neurosurgeon examined her in August 1997, and diagnosed degenerative disc disease. This physician then performed a diskectomy and fusion at L5 on Dixon.
Dixon filed a notice of claim on March 31, 1997, more than five months after her alleged injury . Satilla controverted the claim, and a hearing was held on the matter. In his award, the ALJ noted that the claimant has the burden of proof in workers' compensation cases to show that she suffered an accidental injury which arose out of and in the course of her employment. Zamora v. Coffee Gen. Hosp., 162 Ga. App. 82, 83 (290 SE2d 192) (1982). The ALJ found that Dixon failed to meet this burden, that she was unaware of an injury occurring while lifting patients and only later determined, as her conditioned worsened, that she must have been injured while doing so. The ALJ further found that Dixon had failed to give timely notice of the injury to her employer, as required by OCGA ยง 34-9-80. Accordingly, benefits were denied, and the appellate division affirmed the award.
The superior court reversed and remanded, holding that the ALJ and appellate division "failed to consider the entire record in this matter and based their Awards on a
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