Lamm, Terry v. E. Miller Construction, Inc.

2016 TN WC 203
CourtTennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims
DecidedSeptember 16, 2016
Docket2015-01-0429
StatusPublished

This text of 2016 TN WC 203 (Lamm, Terry v. E. Miller Construction, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lamm, Terry v. E. Miller Construction, Inc., 2016 TN WC 203 (Tenn. Super. Ct. 2016).

Opinion

FILED

September 16, 2016

TN COURT OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CLAIMS

Time: 2:40 PM

TENNESSEE BUREAU OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION IN THE COURT OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CLAIMS

AT CHATTANOOGA

Terry Lamm, ) Docket No.: 2015-01-0429 Employee, )

Vv. )

E. Miller Construction, Inc., ) State File No.: 64870-2015 Employer, )

And )

Bridgefield Casualty Co., ) Judge Thomas Wyatt Carrier. )

EXPEDITED HEARING ORDER FOR ADDITIONAL MEDICAL BENEFITS

This claim came before the undersigned Workers’ Compensation Judge on September 12, 2016, upon the Expedited Hearing requested by the employee, Terry Lamm, pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-239 (2015). The hearing focused on whether Mr. Lamm established he is likely to prevail at a hearing on the merits in establishing (1) his injury arose primarily out of and in the course and scope of employment, or (2) he is entitled to select a physician from a panel of physicians for additional authorized treatment of his alleged work injury. For the reasons set forth below, the Court finds Mr. Lamm is entitled to select a physician from a panel provided by the employer, E. Miller Construction Co. (EMC), or its workers’ compensation carrier for additional authorized treatment of his alleged work injury.’

History of Claim

Mr. Lamm is a fifty-four-year-old resident of Madisonville, Monroe County, Tennessee. (T.R. 1 at 1.) He had worked seven months as a construction laborer for EMC, when on August 12, 2015, he experienced severe low back pain radiating into his legs while assisting three co-employees in lifting a steel H-beam that was approximately twenty feet long. Jd. Mr. Lamm testified his injury occurred while working on the roof of a building at a Johns-Manville plant near Etowah, Tennessee.

' The Court attaches complete listings of the technical record and the exhibits admitted at the Expedited Hearing as appendices to this Order. Mr. Lamm testified the leg and back pain he experienced while lifting the H-beam immediately disabled him from working. He stated the pain made him unsteady on his feet, causing him to exit the roof by stairs instead of by ladder. Mr. Lamm stated he called his daughter to pick him up because he was in too much pain to drive himself home. He averred that he “laid on the couch” the next two days and then sought emergent care at Blount Memorial Hospital because his pain did not improve during the two days of inactivity. (Ex. 3 at 1.)

The records at Blount Memorial noted that Mr. Lamm reported he hurt his back while lifting steel beams over his head two days previously. (Ex. 3 at 9-10.) The records also noted Mr. Lamm reported a past history of back problems, including undergoing a lumbar discectomy in 1999. Jd. Lumbar x-rays taken at the emergency room revealed no acute pathology, but showed degenerative changes. Jd. at 12. The emergency room doctor released Mr. Lamm with a diagnosis of lumbar strain, which he treated with an injection of Toradol and a prescription for narcotic pain medication. Jd. at 12-13, 17-18.

Mr. Lamm reported his injury to “Andrew,” EMC’s safety man, shortly after receiving treatment at Blount Memorial. Andrew referred him to Lakeway Urgent Care without offering him a panel.” Mr. Lamm went to Lakeway on August 17, 2015, where he saw Nurse Practitioner Hillary Quilliams.> (Ex. 1 at 1.) NP Quilliams noted that Mr. Lamm told her he had been in constant pain since August 12, 2015, when he injured his back at work lifting an H-beam over his head. /d. at 1-2. She also noted Mr. Lamm told her about his previous disc-removal surgery, stating that he recovered from the surgery without a problem. Jd. NP Quilliams diagnosed a sprain/strain of the back, prescribed non-narcotic medication and physical therapy, and released Mr. Lamm to return to work with restrictions of no bending, stooping, squatting, or lifting over fifteen pounds.* Jd. at 2.

Mr. Lamm received treatment at Lakeway on two additional occasions for his alleged work injury. The Lakeway records indicate that, on September 11, 2015, Mr. Lamm saw Dr. John Sanabria, who noted he reported no change in his symptoms and no benefit from physical therapy. (Ex. 1 at 3.) The records indicate Dr. Sanabria

* Defense counsel admitted during the Expedited Hearing that neither EMC nor its carrier provided Mr. Lamm a panel.

3 Lakeway coded this visit as a “Work Comp visit... for Company E. Miller Construction. Protocol is WC NEW DS[.]’

*The August 17, 2015 Lakeway note indicates that “Patient was discharged by Hillary Quilliams, FNP.” Below that notation, the note indicates the following: “Signed off electronically by John Sanabria, MD.” The Court interprets these notations to indicate NP Quilliams saw Mr. Lamm and made the decisions memorialized in the note.

°Mr. Lamm testified he never saw Dr. Sanabria and that female nurses provided all the care he received at Lakeway. However, the records indicate Dr. Sanabria, not a nurse, discharged Mr. Lamm on September 11, 2015. discontinued the therapy, ordered an MRI, and kept Mr. Lamm on the same restrictions imposed at the earlier visit. [d. at 3-4.

Mr. Lamm’s last visit at Lakeway occurred October 19, 2015, when he again saw NP Quilliams. She noted Mr. Lamm reported “his back still hurts bad and [he] is still out of work.” (Ex. 1 at 7.) NP Quilliams maintained the previous diagnosis of a sprain of unspecified parts of the lumbar spine and pelvis, but added that Mr. Lamm was stable and improved. Jd. at 8. She released Mr. Lamm from Lakeway’s care, writing, “[t]he condition is resolved, and the patient is at maximum medical improvement (MMI) with no residual disability. Fit for duty without restrictions. Starting 10/19/2015.°° Id. Finally, NP Quilliams opined that, “[iJn absence of any acute findings, there appears to be no work related injury contributing to lumbar spine symptoms.” NP Quilliams advised Mr. Lamm to seek care for “the degenerative changes in [his] lumbar spine” from a personal physician.’

Mr. Lamm testified he has continued to experience significant and disabling low back and leg pain to the present. He had not worked anywhere between the date of injury and the date of the Expedited Hearing.

Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law Dispute Certification Notice Issue

Before deciding the substantive issues presented by the parties, the Court addresses EMC’s procedural objection to Mr. Lamm’s claim he is entitled to select a treating physician from a panel. EMC contended that, because the mediating specialist did not check the boxes on the Dispute Certification Notice (DCN) certifying panel- related issues for decision by the Court, Mr. Lamm could not present any panel-related issue at the Expedited Hearing.

EMC correctly interprets that Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-239(b)(1) (2015) prohibits the parties to a workers’ compensation claim from presenting for the Court’s determination issues not certified on the DCN. However, in Phillips v. Carolina Construction Solutions, No. 2015-01-0208, 2016 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 10, at *18-19 (Tenn. Workers’ Comp. App. Bd. Feb. 26, 2016), the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board held that a workers’ compensation judge must consider the DCN “as a

° Defense counsel indicated EMC stopped temporary disability benefits based on the return-to-work contained in the October 19, 2015 Lakeway record.

™NP Quilliams wrote in the October 19, 2015 note that she discussed Mr. Lamm’s case with Dr. Sanabria. There is no indication, however, that Dr. Sanabria actually saw Mr. Lamm on this occasion. In that the October 19, 2015 Lakeway note indicates NP Quilliams discharged the patient and Dr.

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Goodman v. Oliver Springs Mining Co.
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2016 TN WC 203, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lamm-terry-v-e-miller-construction-inc-tennworkcompcl-2016.