 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Gilbert v. Cavenham Forest Industries Division1/30/2002
Affirmed.
The Workers' Compensation Board Board rejected claimant's attempt to expand the scope of a previously accepted claim. We affirm.
Claimant first compensably injured his low back working for a previous employer in 1963. Two surgeries, a lumbar laminectomy in 1963 and a lumbar fusion in 1965, alleviated his pain for 15 years, during which he performed unlimited strenuous labor. Then, in January 1980, he fell from a machine at work and again injured his low back. He filed a claim for workers' compensation and ultimately received an award of 62.5 percent unscheduled permanent partial disability.
In the course of diagnosing and treating the 1980 injury with more surgery, claimant had several myelograms, one of which showed some evidence of arachnoiditis, a painful and incurable inflamation of the arachnoid tissue and nerve roots in the spine believed to be caused by injection of dye during diagnostic procedures such as myelograms. Between March 1980 and May 1981, claimant had three more myelograms; only one showed possible mild arachnoiditis. These early myelograms figure centrally in this case, which involves the question whether later references to claimant's low back condition imply reference to his arachnoiditis.
In 1986, claimant filed a claim for aggravation of his low back condition; that claim was resolved by a stipulation and disputed claim settlement in which the parties agreed that claimant's low back condition remained compensable but that no aggravation had occurred. On orders of his doctor, claimant was briefly hospitalized in April 1987. He filed another aggravation claim. At the hearing on that claim, the sole issue was whether claimant suffered a worsening of his compensable condition. The administrative law judge (ALJ) affirmed employer's denial, and, in lieu of seeking Board review of that opinion, claimant entered into another stipulation and disputed claim settlement with employer, again agreeing that there had been no worsening of the compensable low back condition.
Subsequently, clamant continued to experience pain and numbness in his right leg and was repeatedly hospitalized. He attributed those symptoms to arachnoiditis. In July 1999, he requested that employer amend its acceptance to specifically include arachnoiditis, as well as arthritis, constipation, depression, and elevated blood pressure. Employer denied that request, maintaining that those conditions were not related to the 1980 injury nor to medical treatment for it. The Board affirmed the denial, and claimant now seeks review, contending, first, that employer impliedly accepted his arachnoiditis when it accepted his low back condition in prior litigation; second, that if employer has not already accepted the arachnoiditis, it should do so now because the arachnoiditis was caused by his on-the-job injury in 1980; and, third, that employer should now also accept his constipation, depression, arthritis, and elevated blood pressure as compensable conditions.
Claimant first argues that the stipulation and disputed claim settlements from 1986 and 1988 constitute an acceptance of a generic "compensable low back condition," including arachnoiditis. The scope of an acceptance is a matter of fact that we will affirm if it is supported by substantial evidence. SAIF v. Dobbs, 172 Or App 446, 451, 19 P3d 932 (2001); Freightliner Corp. v. Christensen, 163 Or App 191, 194, 986 P2d 1263 (1999). The inquiry in this case is complicated by the fact that there is no written acceptance; therefore, determining the scope of acceptance requires examination of the medical records contemporaneous with the injury to determine what the parties contemplated by the use of the ter
Page 1 2 3 Oregon Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|