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Stone v. Dollar General Stores6/8/2005
Sharon Ann Stone appeals from a Workers' Compensation Commission's decision denying her benefits. She argues that the Commission erred in finding that she was not entitled to additional medical treatment and that she was not entitled to temporary-total disability benefits. Because the Commission failed to consider surgical and post-surgical reports that appear to be material to the claim, we reverse and remand for additional findings.
Appellant worked as a manager for Dollar General Stores ("Dollar General"). She was injured on February 28, 2002, when two men robbed her after she closed the store. Appellant testified that she had taken money to the bank and returned to the store to do some ordering. After locking the store for the evening, someone grabbed appellant by her neck. Another person was on her side. The man who grabbed her choked her and then dragged her by her neck to the side of the building. The two men demanded money and hit her on the right side of her head. After appellant told the men that she had gone to the bank, the men searched her and took $103 that she had been reimbursed from Dollar General. Appellant went next door to T.J.'s Quick Stop, where her daughters worked, and stayed there until an ambulance arrived. She later went to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Blytheville, where she was treated and released.
Appellant went to work the next day. She talked to Becky Moore, risk manager for Dollar General. Moore offered psychological counseling, part of standard procedure for employees involved in a robbery. Appellant declined. Regarding her work that day, Stone testified:
I felt so shaken I couldn't write, I couldn't be out on the floor to speak to anyone, I had to stay in the back. I felt stressed and the top of my, in the top I just started with stress, I felt funny and didn't know what was going on and four days later I went to the doctor and told the doctor I don't know what's going on.
Appellant complained of pain in her neck and arms and testified that she could not pick up or open boxes. In a March 3, 2003 letter, Dr. Trent Lamb, her primary care physician, opined that appellant's injuries fit her explanation of the robbery and that a CT scan and an MRI confirmed that opinion. Appellant testified that she had no problems with her neck before the robbery. Appellant stated that she could not walk very far and that it bothered her to drive a car or turn her head very far.
Appellant testified that the robbery occurred somewhere around 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. She drove to the hospital after midnight, where she was diagnosed with a neck strain, a facial contusion, and a head injury . She saw nurse practitioner Angela McKenness on March 4, 2002, and again on April 8, 2002. At this time, Dr. Lamb ordered a CT scan of appellant's cervical spine as well as EMG/NCV studies. Dr. Lamb reviewed the CT scan and diagnosed small disc herniations at Stone's C5-6 and C6-7. An MRI confirmed the diagnosis. An EMG and nerve conduction studies yielded normal results. Dr. Lamb referred appellant to Dr. James Metcalf, who examined her once on May 14, 2002. Dr. Metcalf recommended continued medication and physical therapy, but did not believe that surgery was warranted. After a course of conservative treatment, which did not improve appellant's condition, Dr. Lamb referred her to Dr. Rebecca Barrett-Tuck for a second opinion. Dr. Barrett-Tuck examined Stone on June 17, 2002, and reviewed the diagnostic studies. She diagnosed a disc rupture at appellant's C5-6 and a disc rupture eccentric to the left at C6-7. In her notes dated June 17, 2002, Dr. Barrett-Tuck noted:
I have recommended to Mrs. Stone ACDF at C5-6 and C6-7 with plating, altho
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