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McCraw v. Mary Black Hospital6/17/2002
McCraw's claim which petitioners had also challenged in their appeal to the Commission. Therefore, the Court of Appeals remanded to the Commission for additional proceedings. Id.
ISSUES
1. Does the statute of limitations bar McCraw's claim?
2. Does the notice provision bar McCraw's claim?
DISCUSSION
1. Statute of Limitations
Petitioners argue that the Court of Appeals improperly made "its own determination of facts" by finding that respondent had not been definitively diagnosed in 1991, contrary to the specific finding of the Commission. We disagree.
This Court must affirm the findings of fact made by the Commission if they are supported by substantial evidence. E.g., Tiller v. National Health Care Ctr. of Sumter, 334 S.C. 333, 338, 513 S.E.2d 843, 845 (1999). Substantial evidence is not a mere scintilla of evidence, but evidence which, considering the record as a whole, would allow reasonable minds to reach the conclusion the agency reached. Id. The Court may reverse the decision if the administrative findings are clearly erroneous in view of the reliable, probative and substantial evidence on the whole record. Id.; S.C. Code Ann. § 1-23-380(A)(6) (Supp. 2001).
The workers' compensation statute of limitations states in relevant part:
The right to compensation under this title is barred unless a claim is filed with the commission within two years after an accident, or if death resulted from accident, within two years of the date of death. However, for occupational disease claims the two-year period does not begin to run until the employee concerned has been diagnosed definitively as having an occupational disease and has been notified of the diagnosis. S.C. Code Ann. § 42-15-40 (Supp. 2001) (emphasis added).
The Commission specifically found that Dr. Applebaum diagnosed McCraw in 1991. Petitioners argue that the evidence shows Dr. Applebaum diagnosed McCraw when she advised McCraw, during an informal conversation in the endoscopy unit, to leave the unit. Additionally, petitioners contend McCraw admitted she had been diagnosed because she testified that she knew in 1991 her asthma problems were related to her job.
We hold the Court of Appeals did not make its own factual findings, but instead, correctly determined that the Commission's finding was clearly erroneous and not supported by substantial evidence. The evidence established that Dr. Applebaum did not definitively diagnose McCraw while she worked in the endoscopy unit. Instead, the testimony clearly showed that these consultations were informal, undocumented, and not in the context of a doctor-patient relationship. Given that the statute of limitations requires that the employee be: (1) "diagnosed definitively as having an occupational disease," and (2) "notified of the diagnosis," the Court of Appeals properly reversed the Commission's finding that Dr. Applebaum diagnosed respondent in 1991. McCraw, 338 S.C. at 485, 527 S.E.2d at 116 ("The confirmation that chemicals in the work environment should be avoided and were potentially related to breathing difficulties, even though relayed to the claimant by a qualified physician, do not under any view of the evidence constitute a definitive diagnosis of an occupational disease as contemplated by the statute."). Considering the record as a whole, it simply is not reasonable to conclude that Dr. Applebaum's informal conversations with McCraw in the endoscopy unit constituted a definitive diagnosis, or that McCraw's understanding her asthma was affected by the workplace chemicals somehow constitutes notification of definitive diagnosis of an occupational disease. See Til
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