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Doe v. S.C. Department of Disabilities and Special Needs4/18/2005
minds to reach the conclusion the Full Commission reached." Shealy, 341 S.C. at 455, 535 S.E.2d at 442.
LAW/ANALYSIS
I. Mental-Mental
The Department contends the circuit court erred in reversing the determination by the Full Commission that Claimant's mental disability was not caused by "extraordinary and unusual" conditions in her employment. We agree.
A mental-mental injury is a purely mental injury resulting from emotional stimuli. Shealy, 341 S.C. at 455, 535 S.E.2d at 442. According to section 42-1-160 of the South Carolina Code (Supp. 2004):
Stress arising out of and in the course of employment unaccompanied by physical injury and resulting in mental illness or injury is not a personal injury unless it is established that the stressful employment conditions causing the mental injury were extraordinary and unusual in comparison to the normal conditions of the employment.
The requirement of "unusual or extraordinary conditions in employment" for a claimant to recover for a mental-mental injury refers to conditions to the particular job in which the injury occurs, not to conditions of employment in general. Shealy, 341 at 456, 535 S.E.2d at 442. In order to recover workers' compensation benefits, Claimant must prove both: (1) that she was exposed to unusual and extraordinary conditions in her employment; and (2) that these unusual and extraordinary conditions were the proximate cause of her mental breakdown. Id. at 459, 535 S.E.2d at 444.
As the finder of fact, the Full Commission found the conditions of Claimant's employment were not extraordinary or unusual for her particular job . The Full Commission specifically found the movement of patients between facilities was not extraordinary, and the change in the level of care that Claimant had to provide her patients was not an extraordinary or unusual condition. The Full Commission found that being "subjected to aggressive behavior by mentally-challenged patients is not an extraordinary and unusual condition of employment as a nurse at [the Department], as this occurs with some frequency and is the subject of specific training for [Department] employees." Finally, the Full Commission found:
Based upon her work history and training, it was not unexpected that Claimant would be subjected to changes in the amount of medical care her patients required, that she would be subjected to loud and aggressive behavior by patients, that she would fear loud and aggressive behavior by patients, and that she would suffer minor physical injuries as a result of aggressive behavior by patients.
The findings of fact made by the Full Commission are supported by substantial evidence in the record. Tenia Rae Allen, a supervisor of first shift nurses, testified that dealing with aggressive people was not an unusual situation and that nurses were injured even before the more aggressive patients came to Claimant's unit. A co-worker, Kim Willis, provided additional testimony to indicate the working conditions were not unusual. She stated: "There have always been times when we would have certain patients that were harder to deal with . . . . Most of the ones we have now have more medical needs, but there have always been times when it was hard to deal with, the whole 21 years I've been there." Willis also testified that as a nurse she expected changes in the types of patients she would be dealing with and felt it could get even worse than it was at the time Claimant left. Finally, she testified that some physical confrontation with the patients is to be expected and that was why they had classes to train and "learn how to deal with that."
In addition to findi
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