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Montgomery Tank Lines v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board2/8/2002
Submitted: December 21, 2001
Montgomery Truck Lines (Employer) petitions for review of a Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Board) order affirming the decision of the Workers' Compensation Judge (WCJ) granting Raymond Humphries' (Claimant) review petition, amending Claimant's notice of compensation payable to include a psychiatric injury, and requiring Employer to reimburse Claimant's counsel for costs in the amount of $373.10.
On January 13, 1986, Claimant sustained a work-related injury to his right knee, head, ribs and severe trauma to his head in a work-related motor vehicle accident while he was working as a truck driver for Employer. Accepting the injury, Employer issued a notice of compensation payable acknowledging Claimant's injury which was described as "bumped & cut head, possible rib injury, broken right leg" and began paying Claimant workers' compensation benefits.
Subsequently, pursuant to a stipulation of the parties and a commutation order dated January 20, 1998, Claimant's benefits were commuted and Employer was only required to continue paying medical bills in connection with the work-related injury. However, alleging that Employer failed to pay reasonable and necessary medical expenses related to the work injury, Claimant filed a penalty petition on May 4, 1998. Employer filed an answer denying that any related expenses remained unpaid.
Before the WCJ, Claimant's wife, Mary Humphries, testified describing Claimant's condition after his accident as disheveled, his head bloody and extensively bandaged. Although Claimant had been taken home after the accident, Mrs. Humphries testified that her husband was taken to the hospital shortly thereafter where he was admitted. She stated that following the accident, her husband was not the same, he was irritable, refused to see anyone and was withdrawn. She testified that she began to notice progressive personality changes in her husband, making him aggressive and unreasonable to the point that he was admitted to a psychiatric center in 1994 and had been hospitalized for aggressive and disordered behavior on numerous occasions thereafter.
Over Employer's objection, Claimant also presented the medical reports of Alfred P. Sylvester, M.D. (Dr. Sylvester), Mark D. Miller, M.D. (Dr. Miller) and M.H.V. Murthy, M.D. (Dr. Murthy). In his report, Dr. Sylvester stated that he began treating Claimant in November 1994. Based upon Claimant's symptoms and his examination, which included neuropsychological testing and an interview with Claimant's wife, he stated that Claimant suffered from dementia due to frontal lobe disease of a type which can be preceded by head injury. Dr. Sylvester opined that Claimant's dementia, personality changes and his resultant need for psychiatric treatment were related to his work injury. Dr. Miller stated that he had treated Claimant since June 23, 1998, when Dr. Sylvester left the area.
Based on his review of Claimant's records, medical history and examination, Dr. Miller opined that Claimant suffered from a "bipolar-like" condition, vascular dementia and behavioral disturbances, and that such mentally disabling symptoms originated from Claimant's truck accident-related injuries.
In opposition to Claimant's petition, Employer offered the medical report of John Talbott, M.D. (Dr. Talbott). Based upon a review of Claimant's medical records, history and examination, Dr. Talbott noted that Claimant had slowly evolving mental changes from around the time of his work injury, first becoming serious in 1994. He characterized the injury to Claimant's head as minor and concluded that Claimant's psychiatric problems were due to generalized cerebrovascula
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