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Carlisle v. Watkins Motor Lines5/25/2005
ecord supports that his symptoms caused by his ruptured disk predate the date of his alleged neck injury.
Appellant's testimony contradicted the only history that he provided to a medical professional regarding how the injury occurred. Appellant testified that he injured himself when the pallet jack hit the lip of the dock and abruptly stopped. However, several weeks after cervical surgery he told Dr. Todd that he "first developed his neck and left upper extremity pain after he made a jerking movement attempting to stop a freezer from falling off his loading ramp." Even if appellant did not report the incident to his employer because he thought he was merely experiencing cardiac symptoms, this does not account for the inconsistency between his testimony and the report he gave to Dr. Todd regarding how the injury occurred.
In addition, the record supports that appellant's symptoms that were ultimately related to a ruptured disk predated July 12, 2001, his reported date of injury . On June 26, 2001, Dr. Calandruccio noted that appellant reported progressive numbness and pain in his left arm over the last several months to a year. While Dr. Calandruccio specifically noted no pain in appellant's neck, Dr. Einhaus subsequently opined that appellant's left arm pain was attributable to his ruptured disk.
Moreover, Dr. Einhaus's discharge report, dated September 15, 2001, indicated that appellant had presented with a three- or four-month history of left neck pain. Even if we accept the "date of presentation" as September 15, 2001, and not July 16, 2001, when he first presented to the Semmes Clinic, and even if we accept that appellant's pain began three months prior to that time (the shortest interval), appellant's symptoms would have materialized no later than June 15, 2001, nearly one month prior to his reported date of injury .
We affirm the Commission's denial of benefits for appellant's cervical condition because he cannot establish the causal connection between the July 12, 2001 incident and his ruptured disk.
Bird and Vaught, JJ., agree.
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