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Drumwright v. Anderson Hickey Company2/7/2001
Mailed December 11, 2000
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. The plaintiff, Tommie A. Drumwright, appeals the judgment of the trial court which found the plaintiff failed to carry her burden of proving a work-related injury and dismissed her claim. For the reasons stated in this opinion, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e) (1999) Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Chancery Court Affirmed
W. Michael Maloan, Sp. J, delivered the opinion of the court, in which Janice M. Holder, J., and Henry D. Bell, Sp. J, joined.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
The plaintiff, Tommie Drumwright was forty (40) years old at the time of trial. She worked for the defendant, Anderson Hickey Company, for sixteen (16) years. On June 15, 1998, she picked up a two drawer file and "felt something in my back like real sharp." She told her fellow employee, Linda Climer, that she had hurt her back. Climer told her to go tell the company nurse who gave her pain pills and told her to come back the next day if she was not any better.
On June 17, 1998, plaintiff left work to see her doctor, Dr. Jerald White. Dr. White's family nurse practitioner, Donna Paige Clement, testified by deposition that plaintiff told her she hurt her back a year ago at work and had problems off and on since then. The records of Kathy Smith, the intake nurse, showed "no recent injury." Plaintiff testified Clement did not ask her any questions and she was hurting so bad she couldn't tell her anything. Plaintiff did testify she told Dr. Stewart she hurt her back at work. Dr. White performed x-rays, gave her pain medication, and referred her to Dr. Gary Kellett, a neurosurgeon. Dr. Kellett's notes of June 22, 1998, state "She states that she has done some heavy lifting and straining at the job, but she doesn't feel this is a workman's compensation injury. She feels that she has had some pain going back a year." Dr. Kellett returned her to work.
Plaintiff continued to work for two weeks. She continued to have pain and the company nurse referred her to Dr. Charles Stewart in Jackson. Dr. Stewart referred her to Dr. Joseph Rowland who first saw her on July 22, 1998. He ultimately performed surgery for a ruptured disc on August 19, 1998. Plaintiff told Dr. Joseph Rowland she hurt her back at work on June 17, 1998, but she had also injured her back six months before and had back pain on and off. Dr. Rowland's outpatient summary of August 20, 1998, indicates plaintiff had a life long history of back pain and left leg pain.
Plaintiff testified she never had any serious problems with her back before June 1998, only strained muscles. After returning to work on January 18, 1999, she says she can do her job at Anderson Hickey, but gets tired faster and her left leg gets numb.
Linda Climer testified plaintiff hurt her back lifting a four drawer cabinet at the end of 1997 or the first of 1998. Plaintiff had not complained of back pain to Climer before this incident.
Ron Cannon, the human resource manager at Anderson Hickey, testified the company did not treat the injury as compensable. Plaintiff told him her back hurt, but said she did not know how it happened. He could not find a first report of injury and plaintiff's supervisor was unaware of any injury.
Martha Coffee was plaintiff's supervisor. Coffee testified plaintiff came in one morning and told her her back was killing her and she w
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