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Wilson v. Ace American Insurance Group6/7/2002
ar radiculopathy." (Ex. 1-13.) In other words, claimant's knee symptoms were the result of lumbar nerve impingement.
Dr. Hayward referred claimant to Dr. Peter Sorini, a board certified neurosurgeon. (Ex. 1-13; Sorini Dep. at 4.) Dr. Sorini examined claimant on October 4, 2000. (Ex. 2.) Prior to his examination, claimant underwent an MRI. Dr. Sorini reviewed the MRI and reported:
MRI of good quality reveals dramatic degenerative disk space changes at L3-L4 with a large disk herniation eccentric to the right in the far lateral aspect at this level. There is also a more central component. (Ex. 2-2.)
He recommended "micro-surgical decompression." (Id.)
Ace has denied liability for the claimant's back and knee conditions on the ground that the conditions are not related to her March 9, 1999 injury .
The medical history recited above provides no clear path to a finding that claimant's back and knee conditions are related to her March 9, 1999 injury . Claimant had a prior history of degenerative back disease, with significant x-ray findings as long ago as 1992. The knee symptoms developed approximately 11 months after claimant's March 1999 industrial accident. On the other hand, after a several year symptom-free period, she experienced immediate back and leg symptoms following her March 1999 accident.
MEDICAL OPINIONS REGARDING LOW BACK
Three physicians have weighed in regarding the relatedness of claimant's herniated disk to her March 1999 injury . The physicians, all of whom testified by deposition, are Drs. Hayward, Sorini, and Vallin.
Dr. Hayward wrote the claims adjuster on September 28, 2000, that "it would be reasonable to suspect that her [claimant's] current lumbar radiculopathy and knee pains do have to do with the initial injury in Mach 1999." (Ex. 1-15.) In deposition he was asked if the March 1999 incident caused or aggravated a pre-existing low-back condition. (Hayward Dep. at 9.) He replied, "I believe that it did, in review of previous records, and just interviewing her at our first meeting." (Id. at 10.) However, cross-examination disclosed that he was not fully aware of claimant's prior back history. (Id. at 15-17.) For example, he was unaware of the 1994 injury. (Id. at 16.)
Dr. Sorini testified that claimant's herniated disk was compressing either or both the third and fourth lumbar nerve roots and reiterated his recommendation for surgery. (Sorini Dep. 7, 9.) He opined that the herniated disk "is related to the incident in [March] 1999." (Id. at 9.) He testified that if claimant's prior history of back pain had been "non-specific low back pain," then the March 1999 incident was "causative" of her herniated disk, otherwise it was an aggravation. (Id. at 11.) He acknowledged that Dr. Hayward's medical records, which he had, indicated that at times after March 1999 the claimant did not complain of back or leg pain. He testified that even with a herniated disk symptoms may wax and wane. (Id.) Dr. Sorini did not have or review records of Drs. Campbell, Mohr, or Vallin. (Id. at 15.) He also did not have the claimant's physical therapy records. (Id. at 15-16.)
At the time of his deposition, Dr. Sorini had some but not all of the claimant's pre-March 1999 medical records (id. at 15), and even though the records he did have included some of claimant's prior back history, he was unfamiliar with that history (id. at 15-22, especially at 22 (see below)). He did not have Dr. Soriya's records or the prior imaging studies. (Id. at 19, 22-23.) Indeed, other than claimant's injury when she was 18 he was unaware of claimant's pre-1999 back history and back complaints. (Id. at
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