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Russell v. Invensys Cooking & Refrigeration10/24/2005
Opinion Vote: AFFIRMED.
Shrum, P.J., Garrison, J., concur
Opinion:
Travelers Indemnity Company of Illinois ("Travelers") and Invensys Cooking and Refrigeration ("Employer") (collectively "Appellants"), appeal from an award of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission ("Commission") affirming, but modifying, the decision of the Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") by awarding permanent total disability benefits and future medical expenses to Linda Russell ("Claimant"). On appeal, Appellants raise two points of error, as more fully explained below. First, Appellants maintain the Commission erred in modifying the ALJ's award because its award was not supported by substantial and competent evidence. Second, Appellants maintain the Commission erred by refusing to consider or find credible the opinions and testimony of its tendered expert, Dr. Norbert Belz. Such a refusal, Appellants maintain, is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence and constituted an abuse of discretion. We affirm the award of the Commission.
The record reveals that on January 5, 2001, Claimant, a fifty-one-year-old female who had been working for Employer for twenty-nine years, arrived at work at about 4:30 a.m. and " hile walking through the parking lot . . . fell, landing on the ice when both feet went out from under ." Claimant landed "on the small of back" and felt immediate pain in her hip, her right leg, her right knee and her lower back. Claimant lay on the ground "for a few seconds" before some of her co-workers helped her up. Claimant started her shift as normal but "kept getting sorer and sorer" and then reported her parking lot accident to management later in the morning. Due to Claimant's increased pain, one of Employer's supervisors made her an appointment with Dr. Moore later that same day.
By the time Claimant was seen by Dr. Moore, her pain was "awful." He related to her she might have pulled some muscles; accordingly, he ordered x-rays and gave her a prescription for "muscle relaxers." He also advised her to avoid lifting, twisting, and prolonged sitting for the time being.
Claimant returned to work on January 9, 2001. On that same day, she saw Dr. Stanley Crown, her personal physician, due to her continued "horrific" pain from the fall in the parking lot. Dr. Crown noted she " alk fairly hesitantly" and showed " ild low back tenderness." He then tightened her restrictions, increased her prescription, and advised her to check back with him in six days. When she saw Dr. Crown on January 15, 2001, he noted she was " till having pain in the low back," although she was only working four hours a day for Employer and taking vacation hours for the remainder of her work day. Dr. Crown ordered Claimant to begin physical therapy, continue taking her prescribed medication, and noted that her condition appeared "unchanged."
On January 20, 2001, after working for several hours for Employer, Claimant went to the emergency room at Ozarks Medical Center because she, as she termed it, "couldn't stand the pain." At the emergency room, more x-rays were taken and she was given two injections for pain. The physician who cared for her at the emergency room noted that she was "very much in distress;" was in "acute pain;" that her x-rays showed an "acute lumbosacral strain;" and, that there was evidence of "severe osteoarthritic changes" in her vertebrae. Claimant did not return to work for Employer after this date.
Several weeks later, Claimant was referred to Dr. Rick Walker, an orthopedic surgeon. Over the course of several months, Dr. Walker gave her epidural injections for pain, an MRI, and continued her physical therapy. Thereaf
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