Fairfax Hospital v. DeLaFleur, 791446
| Decision Date | 10 October 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 791446,791446 |
| Citation | 270 S.E.2d 720,221 Va. 406 |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | FAIRFAX HOSPITAL and Aetna Casualty and Surety Co. v. Theresa DeLaFLEUR. Record |
Michael L. Davis, Arlington (R. Craig Jennings, Slenker, Brandt, Jennings & Johnston, Arlington, on brief), for appellants.
Robert K. Richardson, Fairfax (Odin, Feldman & Pittleman, P. C., Fairfax, on brief), for appellee.
Before I'ANSON, C. J., and CARRICO, HARRISON, COCHRAN, POFF, COMPTON and THOMPSON, JJ.
On April 19, 1978, Fairfax Hospital and its insurer, Aetna Casualty and Surety Company (collectively, the Hospital), filed an application for termination of benefits payable to Theresa DeLaFleur, a registered nurse employed by the Hospital, for temporary total disability resulting from an industrial accident on March 11, 1976. The application alleged that the employee was able to resume her regular employment by April 5, 1978. By award entered May 18, 1979, the hearing commissioner vacated the outstanding award of compensation as of April 19, 1978, but ordered the Hospital to continue to provide medical attention "occasioned by" the industrial accident. DeLaFleur applied for review before the full Commission and asked for determination of "responsibility for certain medical expenses".
The Commission ruled that the Hospital had failed to prove that DeLaFleur had recovered from her industrial accident prior to August 29, 1978 (the date one of her surgeons reported her able to return to work), and made a finding of fact that surgical treatment rendered to the employee in March, 1978, "was causally related" to that accident. An award was entered September 4, 1979, ordering the employer to pay compensation until August 29, 1978, and the cost of the surgery. The Hospital requested a rehearing on the ground that the employer's liability for the surgery had not been determined by the hearing commissioner, but the request was denied. We granted the Hospital an appeal limited to the question of liability for the costs of the surgical treatment.
It is uncontroverted that DeLaFleur sustained her compensable back injury while lifting a patient in the Hospital. A lumbar myelogram performed on May 3, 1977, revealed defects consistent with herniated discs on her left side at the L4-5 level and on her right side at the L5-S1 level. DeLaFleur's attending physician, Mathew N. Smith, M.D., a neurosurgeon, diagnosed her problem as herniated discs at L4-5 left and L5-S1 right. On July 27, 1977, a laminectomy was performed at L5-S1 on the right side, but exploration during the operation revealed no evidence of herniation at L4-5 left. Dr. Smith subsequently reported the removal of the herniated disc at L5-S1 right.
In August 1977, DeLaFleur injured her neck and back in an automobile accident unrelated to her employment. Dr. Smith reported that she sustained a cervical sprain and exacerbation of her "low back problem", as well as an abdominal injury, in the automobile accident. He subsequently reported that prior to that accident, he had anticipated that DeLaFleur would return to work in September. The Hospital thereupon applied for termination of benefits payable for the industrial accident. The hearing commissioner, in denying the application on January 25, 1978, relied upon Dr. Smith's report of November 23, 1977, that DeLaFleur had a "pre-existing problem at L4-5 on the left side" that was causally related to the industrial accident and was exacerbated by the vehicular accident. The commissioner found that DeLaFleur had sustained injury in the industrial accident to L4-5 on the left and L5-S1 on the right, and that the Hospital had failed to prove that compensable disability had ended. On review, the Commission on March 14, 1978, adopted the findings of fact and conclusions of law of the hearing commissioner. We refused the Hospital's petition for appeal on August 24, 1978. (Record No. 780506).
By surgical procedure, the herniated disc at L4-5 left was removed and a spinal fusion was accomplished on March 27, 1978. Dr. Smith reported on April 5, 1978, that h...
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