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Doe v. S.C. Department of Disabilities and Special Needs4/18/2005
ng the condition of Claimant's work environment was not extraordinary and unusual, the Full Commission found she had prior and current non-work related stressors, which could impact her mental injury. The Full Commission found her hospitalizations for depression that occurred prior to her employment with the Department contributed to her current bout with depression. Additionally, at the time she was incurring the changes at work, she was also coping with her father's diagnosis of cancer and his subsequent death from the disease. Dr. Paschal and Dr. Lowe document these additional factors in the medical notes.
While the circuit court did a good job of detailing the evidence contrary to the findings of the Full Commission, it appears to have ignored the substantial evidence supporting the Full Commission's findings. Accordingly, we find the circuit court erred in making its own findings of fact and in reversing the decision of the Full Commission as it relates to Claimant's mental-mental claim.
II. Physical-Mental
The Department next contends the circuit court erred in reversing the Full Commission's finding that Claimant's mental claims were not caused by her physical injuries and, therefore, not compensable. We agree.
Both mental-mental injuries, in which the injury is brought on by the extraordinary and unusual conditions of the claimant's work, and physical-mental injuries, in which a physical injury induced the mental disability, are compensable. See Getsinger v. Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corp., 335 S.C. 77, 80-81, 515 S.E.2d 104, 105-06 (Ct. App. 1999). "Where . . . the mental injury is induced by physical injury, it is not necessary that it result from unusual or extraordinary conditions of employment." Estridge v. Joslyn Clark Controls, Inc., 325 S.C. 532, 538, 482 S.E.2d 577, 580 (Ct. App. 1997). A condition, which is induced by a physical injury, is thereby causally related to that injury. Id. (defining cause as that which produces an effect); Black's Law Dictionary, 221 (6th ed. 1990) (defining cause as "to make to induce. . . .")). "[The mental injury] is a new symptom manifesting from the same harm to the body." Estridge, 325 at 538-39, 482 S.E.2d at 581.
Despite the circuit court's finding that a physical injury need not be the direct cause of a mental injury, nothing in section 42-1-160, which explains that certain mental injuries are compensable, removes the causation requirement from a physical-mental claim. Because there is no declaration in the statute altering the requirements for a physical-mental claim, the physical injury must still "induce" or "cause" the mental injury for the mental injury to be compensable. See Caughman v. Columbia Y.M.C.A., 212 S.C. 337, 344, 47 S.E.2d 788, 791 (1948) ("It must be assumed that the Legislature was aware of the policy established by [decisions of the courts] when the legislation under consideration was enacted, and it is reasonable to suppose that if it was intended to change such policy, the Legislature would have expressly so declared . . . .").
In the case before us, there is substantial evidence in the record supporting the Full Commission's determination that the mental injury was not induced or caused by the minor physical injuries Claimant sustained. Claimant stated her fear, the change in work conditions, the loud noises, and the increased stress resulted in her mental injuries. The doctors' records indicate Claimant's issues were related to the stressors of her work and to her fear of assaults. Although Claimant feared assaults by patients, nothing in the record indicates this fear was directly caused by the injuries she suffered to her abdomen, knee, and arm. Furthermore, there
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