Haga v. Clay Hyder Trucking Lines, No. WW-448
| Court | Court of Appeal of Florida (US) |
| Writing for the Court | JOANOS; BOOTH |
| Citation | 397 So.2d 428 |
| Parties | Donald J. HAGA, Appellant, v. CLAY HYDER TRUCKING LINES, Appellee. |
| Decision Date | 28 April 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. WW-448 |
Page 428
v.
CLAY HYDER TRUCKING LINES, Appellee.
Page 429
Harry G. Goodheart, III of Goodheart & Logan, Bradenton, for appellant.
Robert C. Barrett and Bernard J. Zimmerman of Akerman, Senterfitt & Eidson, Orlando, for appellee.
JOANOS, Judge.
This workers' compensation appeal presents a set of extremely unique circumstances combined with a request for highly extraordinary relief. Despite the admonition that "hard cases make bad law," we find that the record in this case requires a reversal of the deputy commissioner's order denying the claimant's request for the installation of a swimming pool. We do not reach this result without considerable concern that an opinion in this case may be misconstrued as an acceptance of the medical necessity of swimming pool installation in cases involving circumstances less extreme than those specifically presented here. Nonetheless, our duty is to judge the case on the particular facts before us and the fear that our decision may not be applied as we intended should not prevent a correct decision in the case at hand. Our intent, however, is that the decision in this case apply solely to the unusual facts presented.
On November 12, 1977 the claimant's tractor-trailer overturned and caught on fire. The claimant was trapped under the wreckage for three hours resulting in third and fourth degree burns to most of the lower half of his body. Dr. Bingham, Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Director of the Burn Unit at the University of Florida Medical Center, treated the claimant's severe burn injuries which required, among other things, below-the-knee amputation of the right leg, above-the-knee amputation of the left leg, a colostomy, and extensive skin and muscle grafts. After his release from the Medical Center, the claimant continued under Dr. Bingham's care but was also treated by Dr. Moreau, a rehabilitation and physical medicine specialist who fitted claimant with prostheses (artificial limbs). Due to the delicate nature of the grafted and scarred skin tissue, however, claimant experienced numerous complications with the skin on his leg stumps which made use of prostheses difficult. These problems were compounded by the fact that claimant gained a great deal of weight after the accident despite attempts to control his weight through various diets. Dr. Bingham explained the weight gain was caused by the massive caloric intake (about 5,000 per day) that claimant was required to consume to give him sufficient energy for healing.
To control claimant's weight and to provide claimant with cardiovascular exercise and exercises to increase strength and range of motion in his lower extremities without damaging the scarred and grafted skin, Mr. Moreau recommended that a swimming pool be installed in claimant's home. Dr. Bingham concurred with this recommendation and prescribed that claimant swim twice daily. The employer refused to install a pool for claimant, but gave
Page 430
him a life membership to a health spa instead. Although the spa was located 25 miles from claimant's home and available for use only 3 days a week, claimant did try several times to use the spa's pool. Unfortunately, the pool lacked facilities for safe ingress and egress by an amputee. Claimant fell twice while trying to enter the pool, once breaking the skin on a leg stump which meant weeks of healing before prostheses could be used again. Claimant's physicians found the spa alternative to be unacceptable for several reasons: the limited availability of the spa pool and its lack of facilities for the handicapped, as well as a public pool's greater risks of contamination and embarrassment to claimant. In addition, the doctors did not feel that it was advisable for claimant to travel the distance to and from the spa pool.A hearing was held on June 2, 1980 dealing solely with the issue of whether the employer should be required to pay for the installation of a swimming pool as a medical necessity. The claimant's testimony and depositions of Dr. Bingham and Dr. Moreau were entered into evidence, as were the depositions of Dr. Shea, an orthopedic surgeon with experience in amputation rehabilitation, and Dr. Kurth, Chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Florida Hospital in Orlando. The latter two...
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Simmons v. Comfort Suites, No. 241, September Term, 2008.
...tub found to be medical supply based on medical testimony regarding significant benefit to claimant); Haga v. Clay Hyder Trucking Lines, 397 So.2d 428, 432 (Fla. Dist.Ct.App.1981) (swimming pool with handicapped facilities found medically necessary where prescribed by severely burned claima......
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Squeo v. Comfort Control Corp.
...pool), the courts are inclined to grant to claimant the requested relief. Page 601 For instance, in Haga v. Clay Hyder Trucking Lines, 397 So.2d 428 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.), review denied, 402 So.2d 609 (Fla.1981), the employer of a double amputee who had suffered numerous complications after hi......
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City of Guntersville v. Bishop
...air conditioning, nursery school care, and lawn care are medically and reasonably necessary. See Haga v. Clay Hyder Trucking Lines, 397 So.2d 428 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App. 1981); Escambia Co. Bd. of Comm'rs v. Phipps, 553 So.2d 269 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1989); Cover v. TG & Y, 377 So.2d 792 (Fla.Dist.Ct......
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Lerman v. Broward County Bd. of County Com'rs, No. 88-1011
...letters," see Metropolitan Transit Authority v. Bradshaw, 478 So.2d 115, 116-117 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985); Haga v. Clay Hyder Trucking Lines, 397 So.2d 428 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), we reverse the deputy commissioner's denial of psychiatric care, and remand with directions to review the matter of pay......
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Simmons v. Comfort Suites, No. 241, September Term, 2008.
...tub found to be medical supply based on medical testimony regarding significant benefit to claimant); Haga v. Clay Hyder Trucking Lines, 397 So.2d 428, 432 (Fla. Dist.Ct.App.1981) (swimming pool with handicapped facilities found medically necessary where prescribed by severely burned claima......
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Squeo v. Comfort Control Corp.
...pool), the courts are inclined to grant to claimant the requested relief. Page 601 For instance, in Haga v. Clay Hyder Trucking Lines, 397 So.2d 428 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.), review denied, 402 So.2d 609 (Fla.1981), the employer of a double amputee who had suffered numerous complications after hi......
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City of Guntersville v. Bishop
...air conditioning, nursery school care, and lawn care are medically and reasonably necessary. See Haga v. Clay Hyder Trucking Lines, 397 So.2d 428 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App. 1981); Escambia Co. Bd. of Comm'rs v. Phipps, 553 So.2d 269 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1989); Cover v. TG & Y, 377 So.2d 792 (Fla.Dist.Ct......
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Lerman v. Broward County Bd. of County Com'rs, No. 88-1011
...letters," see Metropolitan Transit Authority v. Bradshaw, 478 So.2d 115, 116-117 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985); Haga v. Clay Hyder Trucking Lines, 397 So.2d 428 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), we reverse the deputy commissioner's denial of psychiatric care, and remand with directions to review the matter of pay......