Green v. Chromalloy-Turbocumbustor

• Decision Date: 07 March 1989
• Docket Number: CHROMALLOY-TURBOCUMBUSTOR,No. 88-271,88-271
• Citation: 14 Fla. L. Weekly 597,540 So.2d 874
• Parties: 14 Fla. L. Weekly 597 Sylvia GREEN, Appellant, v., and INA/Aetna, Appellees, and Florida Department of Labor and Employment Security, Division of Workers' Compensation, Co-Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 874

540 So.2d 874

14 Fla. L. Weekly 597

Sylvia GREEN, Appellant, v. CHROMALLOY-TURBOCUMBUSTOR, and INA/Aetna, Appellees and Florida Department of Labor and Employment Security, Division of Workers' Compensation, Co-Appellee.

No. 88-271.

District Court of Appeal of Florida First District.

March 7, 1989.

Richard A. Kupfer, of Wagner, Nugent, Johnson, Roth, Romano, Eriksen & Kupfer, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Kenneth W. Moffet, of Roberts & Reynolds, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellees.

JOANOS, Judge.

The claimant in this workers' compensation case appeals the deputy commissioner's order denying her claim for compensation benefits and medical treatment. The points presented for review are: (1) the deputy commissioner's denial of all medical benefits, including diagnostic costs, and (2) the deputy commissioner's failure to apply the logical cause doctrine to determine the question of compensability. We affirm in part, and reverse in part.

The claimant worked for the employer as a "deburrer," i.e., grinding and finishing metal parts that were used in the cooling systems for turbine jet engines. Her job duties required her to carry and lift engine parts, some of which weighed four to five pounds each. Occasionally, claimant had to lift and carry fixtures that weighed approximately fifty pounds. The symptoms for which claimant sought compensation and medical care began when she was at work on July 9, 1987. Claimant testified that after lunch on that day, she began to experience pain in her left arm, the left side of her neck, her shoulder blade, and low back. Claimant reported her problems to a supervisor, and a short while later she went home early. Although still in pain, claimant worked the following day, a Friday, and then worked her normal Saturday hours of 6:00 a.m. until noon. On Saturday afternoon, claimant was taken to the hospital emergency room where the physician on duty advised her to see an orthopedist.

Claimant called her supervisor on Monday, to advise that hospital personnel told her there was something wrong with her neck. By Friday, claimant's pain had increased. The employer arranged for her to be treated by Dr. Mastellone, a chiropractor. Dr. Mastellone told claimant she had a pinched nerve brought on by work. After several treatments by Dr. Mastellone, claimant called Mr. Ciarcia, the health and safety manager for the employer, to tell him that her condition had worsened. Mr. Ciarcia testified that when claimant called, she was upset and crying. Mr. Ciarcia drove to claimant's home and transported her first to Dr. Mastellone's office, and then, on Dr. Mastellone's recommendation, to the office of Dr. Lazarus, an orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Lazarus examined claimant, and ordered x-rays of her lumbar and upper spine. He was so concerned by claimant's complaints of numbness in the left side of her face, left arm, and left leg, that he telephoned a neurologist, Dr. Platzek, while claimant was in his office. Based on the one occasion that he saw claimant, Dr. Lazarus was unable to relate her complaints to her work with the employer.

After the appointment arranged by Dr. Lazarus by telephone, Mr. Ciarcia drove claimant to Dr. Platzek's office. Dr. Platzek ordered various diagnostic tests, which revealed lumbar muscle spasm, cervical muscle spasm, and a bulging at the L4-5 level of claimant's spine. According to Dr. Platzek, a bulging would be more likely to occur in someone forty or fifty years old, but was unusual in a person of claimant's age of thirty-one. Dr. Platzek said his office staff obtained the carrier's clearance for his treatment of claimant on July 20, 1987. In Dr. Platzek's opinion, based on the subjective data and history given to him by claimant and on the clinical objective findings he documented, claimant's condition is causally related to her employment. Dr. Platzek treated claimant with medication, and wrote a prescription for physical therapy three times a week with Dr. Blackman.

Dr. Blackman, chiropractor, treated claimant for pain in her lower and mid-back, left leg, and left arm and shoulder. He said he found nothing to indicate that claimant was a malingerer. He, like Dr. Platzek, concluded that claimant's symptoms are work related. Dr. Blackman predicated his opinion on the history related to him by claimant concerning her work activities, and his examination which revealed that claimant has a bulging disc.

At the request of employer and carrier, Dr. MacMillan, neurosurgeon, examined claimant six days after the final hearing. His deposition was taken shortly after the examination. Dr. MacMillan's examination revealed tenderness on the left side of claimant's body, and generalized muscle weakness which was more pronounced on the left side than on the right. He reviewed the reports and test results obtained by Dr. Lazarus and Dr. Platzek, but expressly rejected the thermogram test results, stating that in his opinion a thermogram is not a legitimate test. Although Dr. MacMillan accepted the validity of the other tests performed, he attributed no particular significance to them, other than as an indicator that claimant might have pain. Similarly, he testified that claimant's bulging lumbar spine was not an abnormal condition for a person of claimant's age. On the basis of his examination, Dr. MacMillan opined that within a reasonable degree of medical certainty, claimant does not have a valid work-related injury.

The deputy commissioner found that in the histories claimant gave to various physicians, she had not identified a specific event or identifiable cause for her complaints. The deputy commissioner rejected the opinions of Dr. Platzek and Dr. Blackman as to causal relationship, and further found that Dr. Blackman was not authorized to treat claimant. Based on the opinion of Dr. MacMillan, the deputy commissioner found that claimant's complaints had not been corroborated by any legitimate diagnostic procedure, and that there was no relationship between...