Lacy v. Federal Mogul
| Citation | 278 S.W.3d 691 |
| Decision Date | 02 February 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. SD 28726.,SD 28726. |
| Parties | Doris LACY, Employee-Appellant, v. FEDERAL MOGUL, Employer-Respondent, St. Paul Travelers Company, Insurer-Respondent, and Missouri State Treasurer, Custodian of the Second Injury Fund, Respondent. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Missouri (US) |
Doris Lacy (Claimant) appeals from a final award entered by the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (the Commission) denying compensation on claims she filed against her employer, Federal Mogul (Employer); Employer's insurer, St. Paul Travelers; and the Missouri State Treasurer in his capacity as Custodian of the Second Injury Fund (the Fund). See § 287.220.1 Claimant contended that she was injured when she fell at work and that this work-related injury, combined with other injuries she previously sustained in a car accident, rendered her totally and permanently disabled.2 The Commission denied both claims because Claimant failed to meet her burden of proving that: (1) her fall at work resulted in any compensable injury; and (2) the injuries for which she received treatment were causally related to the fall. On appeal, Claimant challenges the Commission's reliance on a doctor's opinion about the cause of Claimant's injuries and the Commission's finding that Claimant failed to meet her burden of proof as to causation. Finding no error, this Court affirms.
Claimant began working for Employer in October 1987 operating a groover machine, which was used in the manufacture of pistons. Claimant's job involved bending and lifting pistons out of baskets.
Since the 1970's, Claimant's general medical care had been provided by Dr. James Campbell. Prior to March 1999, Dr. Campbell treated Claimant for migraine headaches. Dr. Campbell described these as "recurrent headaches of a severe nature" and treated them with narcotic and analgesic medications. During this time frame, Dr. Campbell also treated Claimant for anxiety and depression.
In March 1999, Claimant's C-2 vertebra was fractured in a car accident. Her initial treatment was provided by Dr. David Yingling. At first, Claimant's fracture was stabilized with a halo apparatus. After three months, the halo was replaced with a soft neck collar.
As Claimant's fracture healed, she developed neck pain and was prescribed medication for that condition by Dr. Campbell. Throughout Claimant's recovery, she also continued to be treated by Dr. Campbell for migraine headaches, anxiety and depression. Following the March 1999 accident, Dr. Campbell prescribed a number of different narcotic and analgesic medications, anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medications, migraine treatments and sleep aids for Claimant.
Eventually, Dr. Yingling referred Claimant to Dr. Mohammad Shakil for treatment of her neck pain. In January 2000, Dr. Shakil performed a cervical facet rhizotomy. Not long after this procedure, Claimant was able to return to work. She had been off work for ten months because of the injuries she sustained in the car accident.
When Claimant returned to work in January 2000, she was released from Dr. Yingling's care without restrictions. Claimant was able to perform the same job she had been doing before the car accident. Between January 2000 and May 2001, Claimant continued to see Dr. Campbell on a regular basis. During this time period, Claimant continued to complain of neck pain, which was exacerbated when Claimant was under stress (e.g., when close family members were ill). Dr. Campbell prescribed Flexeril, Restoril, Paxil and Lortab as needed to treat Claimant's neck pain.
On or about May 17, 2001, Claimant's foot slipped out from under her as she was walking through oil and water substances on the plant floor. She landed on her buttocks and felt a sharp pain in her low back and neck. According to Claimant, she initially was concerned that she may have "re-broke" her neck. Co-worker Allen Blume saw Claimant fall and helped her up off the floor. Claimant's supervisor, Tony Campbell, walked over and asked Claimant if she needed to see a first responder or go to the doctor. After taking a moment to recover, Claimant said that she thought she would be okay. Although she hurt, it was just an initial hurt from falling down. She returned to her machine and finished her shift.
Sometime later, Claimant filed an Accident/Incident Investigation Report (the accident report). In that document, Claimant reported the accident had occurred on May 27, 2001. Initially, Claimant had listed the date of the accident as May 15, 2001. That date was crossed out, and the 27th was written instead. She identified the part of the body that was injured as "neck, lower back." When responding to another question asking whether the accident resulted in an injury, however, Claimant wrote "no." Her answer stated that no first aid was given and that she did not seek any treatment. After the accident, Claimant returned to work as scheduled. During the weeks ending on May 20, May 27 and June 3, she worked 42 hours, 57.5 hours and 53.5 hours, respectively.
On June 4, 2001, Claimant saw Dr. Campbell for the first time since she fell. At that time, Claimant was suffering from an acute migraine headache and had to be examined in the back seat of her car. According to Dr. Campbell's notes from that visit, Claimant only sought treatment for her headache.3 On June 12, 2001, Dr. Campbell refilled Claimant's prescriptions for the very same medications she had been taking before she fell at work.
On June 6, 2001, Claimant went on medical leave, but she continued to work intermittently through mid-June.4 On June 13, 2001, Claimant called Dr. Campbell and complained of headaches and neck aches. The doctor prescribed further treatment and medications for headaches, offered to refer Claimant back to Dr. Yingling and scheduled a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.
On June 18, 2001, Claimant filled out a short-term disability accident and sickness form. This form showed the date of disability as June 12, 2001, and identified the type of disability as the March 1999 car accident. On June 20, 2001, Dr. Campbell signed a physician's statement stating that Claimant should not return to work until after she saw Dr. Yingling on June 28, 2001.
Claimant saw Dr. Yingling as scheduled. During this office visit, Claimant reported that she had been having persistent problems with pain in the posterior right neck since she slipped and fell "two weeks ago." This was the first time that Claimant's medical records contain any reference to that fall. A cervical spine MRI showed evidence of a hemangioma in the vertebral body of C3 and a bulging disc at C4-C5, but there was no evidence of any compressive lesions. Cervical spine x-rays demonstrated moderate degenerative changes with no evidence of instability. Claimant continued to have problems with migraine headaches. Dr. Yingling recommended a course of physical therapy and referred Claimant to a neurologist.
On July 3, 2001, Claimant was seen by Dr. Kit Mays at his pain and rehabilitation clinic. Claimant's chief complaints were neck, shoulder and arm pain. Claimant related that she had suffered a cervical fracture in 1999 and had done reasonably well until mid-June 2001, when she slipped and fell at work. Claimant said that she had been seen by Dr. Campbell the next day. On physical exam, Claimant's range of motion in her cervical spine was limited in all planes. Dr. Mays determined that Claimant was taking a very large amount of narcotic medications, which was not in her best interest. In Dr. Mays' opinion, Claimant likely had fibromyalgia that was unrelated to her neck problem. Dr. Mays found no surgically correctable problem in Claimant's neck. The doctor's plan was to wean Claimant off of narcotics and get her on more appropriate medications.
On July 16, 2001, Dr. Campbell saw Claimant again. She complained of head and neck pain. According to Dr. Campbell's notes, it was during this visit that Claimant first mentioned that she had slipped and fallen at work. Dr. Campbell continued to treat Claimant's neck pain and migraine headaches with the same course of medications that had been previously prescribed.
On July 16, 2001, Claimant also filled out another short-term disability claim form. This time, she reported the date of disability as May 17, 2001. The cause of her disability was listed as a work-related injury that occurred on May 17. The chief complaint was back pain, and the diagnosis was back pain, lumbar spine and disc trauma. According to Dr. Campbell's records, however, the first time that Claimant reported any pain in her back was on July 19, 2001.
On August 12, 2001, Claimant went to the emergency room complaining of low back pain. During this visit, Claimant attributed her low back problems to the fall that occurred at work. Claimant stated that housework she had been doing before coming to the hospital had caused her back pain to increase. An MRI performed three days later showed slight bulging discs at L3-L4 and L4-L5 and mild degeneration of the facet joints. There was no evidence of a herniated disc, spinal stenosis or neuroforamninal narrowing. Dr. Campbell continued to treat Claimant for pain and referred her to physiatrist Dr. Bernard Burns.
Claimant saw Dr. Burns in October 2001. Claimant complained of neck and low back pain. She stated that: (1) her symptoms dated back to the 1999 car accident in which she suffered a C-2 fracture; (2) she had returned to work with occasional neck pain...
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