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Boyce v. State2/1/2005
inent. The hearing officer's reliance on the finding in paragraph 29 demonstrates his misunderstanding of the standard when he states first that neither physician concluded Ms. Boyce's condition was materially or substantially aggravated by her employment but then states they testified her employment contributed to or aggravated her heel condition. As we state above, medical testimony to the effect that work contributed to or aggravated the employee's condition is all that is required under Wyoming law to meet the employee's burden of proving a material or substantial aggravation of a pre-existing condition. To the extent the hearing officer concluded otherwise in paragraph 29, he misapplied the law.
[ ] The evidence showed Ms. Boyce's condition was satisfactory up until she began work at the motel requiring her to be on her feet a significant part of each work day. Then, within just a few months, her condition had worsened to a point described as "extreme" and her foot was placed in a cast. The experts testified, without contradiction, that plantar fasciitis ordinarily resolves with the usual prescribed treatments unless the condition is aggravated by other factors. The Division presented no evidence suggesting Ms. Boyce's plantar faciitis was beyond ordinary when first diagnosed. Yet, the evidence showed, by February 2002 her condition was extreme. The only evidence presented explaining why that was so concerned her employment. The Division made no showing that other factors caused her condition to deteriorate. The onlyexpert medical testimony presented was the unequivocal testimony of two doctors that Ms. Boyce's work aggravated her pre-existing condition. No expert testimony was presented refuting their testimony or suggesting some other cause for her deteriorating condition. While the hearing officer correctly cited Thornberg v. State ex rel. Wyoming Workers' Compensation Div., 913 P.2d 863 (Wyo. 1996) for the principle that opinions expressed by medical experts in terms of "can," "could", or "possibly" are not sufficient to meet an employee's burden of proof, that principle is not applicable here where Ms. Boyce's experts used none of those limiting words, but testified unequivocally that in their opinion her work conditions aggravated her pre-existing foot problems. The Division offered no evidence contradicting the doctors' opinions, no explanation for why those opinions should be ignored, and no evidence regarding what else could have caused the aggravation of Ms. Boyce's condition. From our review of the entire record in accordance with the applicable standard of review, we conclude the hearing officer based his conclusion that Ms. Boyce did not meet her burden of proving her pre-existing condition was aggravated by work conditions on his erroneous belief that the medical testimony was legally inadequate. As a result, that conclusion was arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with Wyoming law.
[ ] The hearing examiner's conclusion is reversed. This case is remanded to the district court to reverse the order denying benefits and for entry of an order granting benefits.
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