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Cheyenne County Nursing Home v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office2/9/1995
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Petitioners, Cheyenne County Nursing Home and Colorado Compensation Insurance Authority, appeal from the final order of the Industrial Claim Appeals Panel which directed that they must provide an electric stair glider in the home of the claimant, Gladys Brisendine. We set aside the order.
The claimant is permanently and totally disabled as a result of an industrial injury and is confined to a wheelchair. The petitioners have provided a wheelchair and modifications to the claimant's home, including wheelchair ramps, smoke alarms, and bathroom modifications. However, they refused to pay for a stair glider to the basement on the basis that it was not medically necessary.
The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) found that it was necessary for the claimant to be able to get to the basement because of the number of tornadoes and tornado warnings in the vicinity of claimant's residence. The ALJ concluded that the stair glider was reasonably necessary to relieve the effects of the claimant's industrial injury and is thus a compensable medical apparatus. The Panel agreed and affirmed the ALJ's order.
The petitioners contend that a stair glider is not an apparatus as defined by § 8-42-101(1)(a), C.R.S. (1994 Cum. Supp.). A corollary issue is whether the installation of a stair glider under the circumstances of this case is a required modification to the claimant's residence. We conclude that a stair glider is not an apparatus as that term is used in the statute. We further conclude that, under the circumstances at issue here, the installation of a stair glider in the claimant's residence is not a required modification.
Section 8-42-101(1)(a) provides:
Every employer, regardless of said employer's
method of insurance, shall furnish such
medical, surgical, dental, nursing, and
hospital treatment, medical, hospital, and
surgical supplies, crutches, and apparatus as
may reasonably be needed at the time of the
injury or occupational disease and thereafter
during the disability to cure and relieve the
employee from the effects of the injury.
The parties agree that a wheelchair is a medical apparatus as defined by the statute. In order for a wheelchair to provide adequate relief, it must be usable in the claimant's residence which usually requires some modification of the residence to include the installation of ramps, widening of doorways, and modification of the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom to accommodate the wheelchair and claimant. See R & T Construction Co. v. Judge, 323 Md. 514, 594 A.2d 99 (1991); Bomboy v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board, 132 Pa. Commw. 169, 572 A.2d 248 (1990); Rieger v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board, 104 Pa. Commw. 42, 521 A.2d 84 (1987).
Our present statute, and its predecessor, § 8-49-101(1)(a), C.R.S. (1986 Repl. Vol. 3B), has been narrowly construed with respect to services and the term "apparatus." See ABC Disposal Services v. Fortier, 809 P.2d 1071 (Colo. App. 1990) (claimant who suffered a serious lower back injury not entitled to reimbursement for the purchase price of a prescribed snowblower); Atencio v. Quality Care, Inc., 791 P.2d 7 (Colo. App. 1990) (claimant entitled to prescribed housekeeping and attendant care services); Valdez v. Gas Stop, 857 P.2d 544 (Colo. App. 1993) (claimant not entitled to certain housekeeping services as there was no required attendant care services); Hillen v. Tool King, 851 P.2d 289
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