Layne v. Fox Chase Cancer Center

36 Pa. D. & C.4th 212, 1996 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 56
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County
DecidedOctober 24, 1996
Docketno. 89-09268
StatusPublished

This text of 36 Pa. D. & C.4th 212 (Layne v. Fox Chase Cancer Center) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Layne v. Fox Chase Cancer Center, 36 Pa. D. & C.4th 212, 1996 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 56 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1996).

Opinion

DEVLIN SCOTT, J.,

Presently before the court are the motions for summary judgment of defendants Fox Chase Cancer Center, Bien T. Samson M.D. and Florence McClurken R.N. For the reasons stated below, we grant defendants’ motion and dismiss plaintiffs’ amended complaint with prejudice.

Pursuant to the court’s order of May 23, 1996, the parties have filed a stipulation of material facts which set forth the following: plaintiff Lorraine Layne was engaged in her part-time employment as a registered operating room nurse with Fox Chase when she developed a severe stomach virus secondary to an upper respiratory infection. She presented to the Employee Health Service for treatment, where she was examined by defendant McClurken. After consulting with defendant Samson, McClurken administered to plaintiff an intramuscular injection of Tigan in her left gluteal muscle. Immediately upon the administration of the injec[214]*214tion, plaintiff began to experience severe pain at the injection site, which radiated into her left leg. Plaintiff then presented to the emergency room at Jeannes Hospital for neurological assessment. There it was determined that the injection punctured plaintiff’s left sciatic nerve which resulted in left sciatic neuropathy. Plaintiff continues to suffer from severe chronic pain.

Fox Chase submitted plaintiff’s claim to its workers’ compensation carrier, PMA Insurance Company. PMA has paid all of plaintiff’s medical bills relating to the accident, and plaintiff has been receiving wage loss benefits through PMA since November 1987. However, plaintiffs’ answer to Fox Chase’s motion for summary judgment avers that there has been no formal determination of compensable injury, and many of plaintiff’s medical bills have been refused and payment denied as unrelated to treatment of a work-related injury.

We will address the parties’ motions separately.

(1) Fox Chase’s motion for summary judgment.

Fox Chase asserts that plaintiffs’ claim falls within the coverage of the Workers’ Compensation Act, and therefore plaintiff is precluded from pursuing the instant action. We agree.

If an injury is compensable under the Act, the compensation provided by that Act is the employee’s exclusive remedy. Wasserman v. Fifth & Reed Hospital, 442 Pa. Super. 563, 660 A.2d 600 (1995). Section 303 (a) of the Workers’ Compensation Act provides:

“The liability of an employer under this Act shall be exclusive and in place of any and all other inability to such employees ... on account of any injury . . . as defined in section 301(c)(1) . . . .” 77 PS. §463 (§303(a)).

[215]*215Section 301(c)(1) defines an injury arising in the course of employment as follows:

“The term ‘injury arising in the course of employment’ as used in this article, . . . shall include all other injuries sustained while the employee is actually engaged in the furtherance of the business or affairs of the employer, whether upon the employer’s premises or elsewhere, and shall include all injuries caused by the condition of the premises or by the operation of the employer’s business or affairs thereon, sustained by the employee, who, though not so engaged, is injured upon the premises occupied by or under the control of the employer, or upon which the employer’s business or affairs are being carried on, the employee’s presence thereon being required by the nature of his employment.” 77 P.S. §411 (§301(c)(1)).

Whether an employee was acting in the course of his employment at the time of his injury is a question of law to be determined on the basis of the findings of fact. Peer v. W.C.A.B. (B & W Construction), 94 Pa. Commw. 540, 503 A.2d 1096 (1986). Pursuant to section 301(c)(1) (77 P.S. §411), an employee will be considered to have suffered an injury arising in the course of his employment while either (1) actually engaged in furtherance of the employer’s business or affairs; or (2) on the premises of the employer even though not actually engaged in furtherance of the employer’s business, but only if the nature of his/her employment requires the employee’s presence thereon. Tatrai v. Presbyterian University Hospital, 497 Pa. 247, 439 A.2d 1162 (1982); Mann v. City of Philadelphia, 128 Pa. Commw. 499, 563 A.2d 1284 (1989). Therefore, under Tatrai and Mann, if plaintiff’s situation is within one of these two definitions of injury, then her remedy under the Workers’ Compensation Act is exclusive.

[216]*216Plaintiffs and defendants stipulate that plaintiff was not required to seek treatment at the EHS. Therefore, plaintiff’s presence was not required at the EHS, and plaintiff’s situation does not fall within the second category of injury arising in the course of employment. However, we find that plaintiff’s injury falls within the first category of injury in that her injury occurred while she was “engaged in furtherance of the employer’s business or affairs.” Therefore, she is barred from bringing the instant action.

The phrase “actually engaged in the furtherance of the business of affairs of the employer” is to be given a liberal construction. Hemmler v. W.C.A.B. (Clarks Summit State Hospital), 131 Pa. Commw. 24, 569 A.2d 395 (1990); Mann v. City of Philadelphia, supra. Our Superior and Commonwealth Courts have held that employees are actually engaged in the furtherance of the business or affairs of the employer when the activity causing the employee’s injuries was encouraged by the employer. See Snyder v. Pocono Medical Center, 440 Pa. Super. 606, 656 A.2d 534 (1995); Budzichowski v. Bell Telephone Co. of PA, 503 Pa. 160, 469 A.2d 111 (1983); see also, Hemmler, supra; Mann, supra.

Instantly, plaintiff sustained her injury while she sought treatment at the EHS. The parties stipulate that the EHS was intended to confer a direct benefit upon Fox Chase by assuring that all workers are fit for duty, minimizing any undue liability risk to Fox Chase, and reducing absenteeism by providing prompt medical evaluation to employees after the onset of illness or injury. (Stipulated fact no. 5.) We find that plaintiff’s activity at the time of her injury was encouraged by Fox Chase.

Further, plaintiff, by her subsequent actions, admits that her injury is precisely the type of injury com[217]*217pensable under the Workers’ Compensation Act. She has applied for workers’ compensation benefits, and has been receiving wage loss compensation since 1987. She also has had medical bills paid through the provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act. By accepting these benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act, she admits that her injury is covered by the Act, which is her exclusive remedy.

In Mann v.

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Related

Snyder v. Pocono Medical Center
656 A.2d 534 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1995)
Fern v. Ussler
630 A.2d 896 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1993)
Hemmler v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board
569 A.2d 395 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1990)
Tatrai v. Presbyterian University Hospital
439 A.2d 1162 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1982)
Budzichowski v. Bell Tel. Co. of Pa.
469 A.2d 111 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
Mann v. City of Philadelphia
563 A.2d 1284 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1989)
McGinn v. Valloti
525 A.2d 732 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1987)
Wasserman v. Fifth & Reed Hospital
660 A.2d 600 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1995)
Peer v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board
503 A.2d 1096 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1986)

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Bluebook (online)
36 Pa. D. & C.4th 212, 1996 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 56, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/layne-v-fox-chase-cancer-center-pactcomplbucks-1996.