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Young v. District of Columbia Dep't of Employment Services1/6/2005
g undergo a subacromial decompression, and distal clavicular resection of the right shoulder. Dr. Rabbitt's recommendations were based on his examination of Mr. Young on August 15, 2000, and the results of the second MRI.
On April 16, 2002, Mr. Young submitted to an independent medical evaluation ("IME") of his shoulder by Flippo's physician, Dr. Steven Hughes. After reviewing the results of both of the MRI examinations, and Mr. Young's medical records, Dr. Hughes concluded that Mr. Young's "symptoms are related to degenerative changes of the shoulder and low back," and were not the result of the injury that he sustained while working for Flippo. Dr. Hughes reasoned that "there no objective data that [could] correlate" his continuing shoulder pain "as being causally related" to the July 24, 2003 injury. However, Dr. Hughes does not set forth the July 24, 2000 injury under the section of his report labeled, "History of Injury." Rather, he states: "This 39 year-old right hand-dominant auto mechanic with no prior history of injury to the right shoulder or back relates that he had a confrontation with a supervisor at work and presented to Dr. Rabbitt in August of 2000 having stated that he hurt his shoulder and low back."
Mr. Young filed a claim for workers' compensation pursuant to the District of Columbia Workers' Compensation Act of 1979, D.C. Code ยงยง 32-1501 et seq., and a full evidentiary hearing was held on April 29, 2002, before Administrative Law Judge Karen Calmeise of the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services. After considering Mr. Young's testimony and the medical evidence presented by both parties, including the conflicting medical diagnoses of Dr. Rabbitt and Dr. Hughes, Judge Calmeise issued a Compensation Order concluding that Mr. Young sustained an accidental shoulder injury on July 24, 2000 during the course of his employment with Flippo, and that he was therefore entitled to receive all medical expenses, including the recommended surgery, that were causally related to his injury.
Finding that Mr. Young had produced "sufficient evidence to invoke" the presumption of compensability, thereby raising the rebuttable presumption that his injury did in fact arise during the course of his employment, Judge Calmeise rejected Flippo's argument that Mr. Young's injury was caused by anything other than the July 24, 2000 work accident. Judge Calmeise reasoned that Mr. Young's "symptoms and complaints regarding his right shoulder and lower back have remained consistent since the July 24, 2000 accident." Moreover, Judge Calmeise stated the often repeated rule that "in cases of competing medical opinion, the opinions of the treating physician," here, Dr. Rabbitt, "are generally entitled to be accorded significant weight," and are more persuasive than the views of the IME physician, here, Dr. Hughes, "who is retained for the purpose of preparing for litigation." Judge Calmeise clearly meant to reference the right shoulder and lower back, rather than a "cervical condition" in stating: "I found the medical opinion of treating physician to be most persuasive to resolve the issue of medical causation of claimant's cervical condition."
On April 18, 2003, Flippo filed an application for review of the Compensation Order of Judge Calmeise to the Director of the Department of Employment Services. The Director, after noting that the "sole issue on appeal . . . is whether the decision that [Mr. Young's] right shoulder condition is medically causally related to his July 24, 2000 work injury is supported by substantial evidence in the record," reversed Judge Calmeise's Compensation Order. The Director reasoned that while Judge Calmeise "did not make a finding that [Fl
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