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In re Canavan8/17/2000
Suffolk.
May 4, 2000
Workers' Compensation Act, Expert opinion. Evidence, Expert opinion, Scientific test. Witness, Expert, Physician. Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Judicial Estoppel. Practice, Civil, Motion to dismiss.
Appeal from a decision of the Industrial Accident Reviewing Board.
After review by the Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court granted leave to obtain further appellate review.
This is an appeal from a decision by the reviewing board of the Industrial Accident Board (board) affirming a decision of an administrative judge (judge) finding that Theresa Canavan (plaintiff or employee) is temporarily unable to work and that her medical treatment is reasonable and necessary. The self-insurer, Brigham and Women's Hospital (hospital), appealed from the board's decision to the Appeals Court pursuant to G. L. c. 152, Sect. 12, arguing that the medical testimony provided through deposition by the plaintiff's doctor on diagnosis, disability, and causation was not based on reliable methodology pursuant to the standard set forth in Commonwealth v. Lanigan, 419 Mass. 15, 25-26 (1994), and should not have been admitted by the judge. The Appeals Court held that the medical evidence was properly admitted and affirmed the plaintiff's award. Canavan's Case, 48 Mass. App. Ct. 297 (1999). We granted the hospital's application for further appellate review and reverse the board's decision.
1. Background.
We set forth the factual background. The employee received her bachelor's degree in nursing from Boston State College in 1980. In September, 1983, she began a full-time position as a nurse in the hospital's recovery room where she worked until June, 1990, when she began working as a nurse in the hospital's operating room. As an operating room nurse, she was responsible for the safe care of patients during surgery, including preparing the room for surgery, caring for the surgical instruments, and assisting the surgeons. During the workers' compensation hearing, the employee testified that, while in the operating room, she was subjected to various chemicals including ethylene oxide, formaldehyde, and diesel fuel. On August 6, 1993, at the conclusion of a ten-hour day in the operating room, she experienced a severe headache, nasal congestion, and dizziness. She returned to work on August 9, 1993, but still suffered symptoms, including a fever, headache, and swelling of her nose and right cheek. After arriving at the hospital for work, she was referred to Dr. Arthur M. Laurentano who confirmed her symptoms and prescribed a course of antibiotics. At that time she was diagnosed as having chronic sinusitis and was determined to be disabled. The hospital accepted her medical condition and paid her workers' compensation benefits.
Dr. Laurentano, whose antibiotic treatment had proved only marginally effective for the employee, referred her to Dr. N. Thomas LaCava. The employee first met with Dr. LaCava in June, 1994. He became her treating physician and provided, by deposition, the expert medical testimony on her behalf at the workers' compensation hearing. Dr. LaCava is a private practitioner, an instructor in pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, a staff pediatrician at Holden District Hospital, St. Vincent Hospital, Worcester Hahnemann Hospital, and The Memorial Hospital, and is on the medical staff at University of Massachusetts Hospital. He is certified in pediatrics by the American Board of Medical Specialties and is certified in environmental medicine by the American Board of Environmental Medicine, a field not recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties.
In response
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