 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Underwood v. Robinson Manufacturing Co.3/5/1999
AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART
OPINION
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and Conclusions of law.
Review of the findings of fact made by the trial court is de novo upon the record of the trial court, accompanied by a presumption of the correctness of the findings, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise. Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e)(2); Stone v. City of McMinnville, 896 S.W.2d 548, 550 (Tenn. 1995).
The application of this standard requires this Court to weigh in more depth the factual findings and Conclusions of the trial court in a workers' compensation case. See Corcoran v. Foster Auto GMC, Inc., 746 S.W.2d 452, 456 (Tenn. 1988).
The trial court found the plaintiff was 30 percent permanently and partially industrially disabled. The trial court further found that the defendant would be liable for any cost of a future bypass surgery.
The issues presented for review are whether the trial court erred in finding that the plaintiff's heart attack was precipitated by exertion from work; whether the trial court erred in finding that the plaintiff is industrially disabled; and whether the trial court erred in finding that the plaintiff is entitled to medical expenses incurred from a future bypass.
We affirm the judgment in part and reverse the judgment in part.
The plaintiff is 41 years old, has always worked as a laborer, and has no high school diploma or GED. The plaintiff works as a truck driver for the defendant. On the day he had his heart attack, he had worked eight or nine hours before he arrived at his destination. Though in the eight years he had worked for the defendant, he had never unloaded a truck without a hydraulic pallet jack, there was no pallet jack to be found, and the plaintiff had to unload his truck by hand, walking into his enclosed, unventilated truck, picking up boxes weighing between 25-75 pounds, and carrying them approximately 30-40 feet to another trailer. The temperature inside the two trailers was "well over a hundred."
After the plaintiff had carried about 10 boxes, he began having chest pains and began to vomit. He returned to his job, but the chest pain increased. He first attempted to drive himself to the hospital, but he ended up radioing for an ambulance which took him to a local hospital before he was airlifted to a Chattanooga hospital. The plaintiff was diagnosed as having had a heart attack. The plaintiff underwent bypass surgery and returned to his same job driving a truck at the same pay rate approximately four weeks after the heart attack.
The plaintiff has regularly smoked cigarettes since he was 18 years old or younger. At the time of his heart attack, he was 40, overweight, had high cholesterol, and a family history of atherosclerotic disease, all risk factors for a heart attack. However, he has passed physicals every two years for the 12 years preceding this heart attack, including one less than a month before the heart attack. Against his doctors' advice, he still smokes cigarettes and occasionally eats fatty foods.
The trial court found the depositions of Dr. Hays and Dr. Graham to be "most significant," and Dr. Hays' testimony to be "unequivocating" and awarded benefits including medical expenses involved in another bypass surgery in the future.
The plaintiff relied on the deposition testimony of Dr. Leonard J. Hays, a cardiologist, who treated him at the Chattanooga hospital
Page 1 2 3 4 Tennessee Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|