Pioneer Coal Co. v. Sparks

249 S.W.2d 725, 1952 Ky. LEXIS 844
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJune 13, 1952
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 249 S.W.2d 725 (Pioneer Coal Co. v. Sparks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pioneer Coal Co. v. Sparks, 249 S.W.2d 725, 1952 Ky. LEXIS 844 (Ky. Ct. App. 1952).

Opinion

SIMS, Justice.

Appellee, John Sparks, had his left kneecap broken in a mine accident on Sept. 16, 1946. In 1942 he had suffered a gunshot wound in his left hip which incapacitated him from work for a couple of years, and caused him to' walk with a limp. However, at the time of his accident in 1946, ‘he was, and had been for some years,, efficiently performing the work ordinarily accomplished by a physically sound man.

The Workmen’s Compensation Board' found that appellee’s injuries from the-mine accident extended to his body as a whole and caused him to suffer total permanent disability. However, it found that 10% of his disability should be charged to the gunshot wound and that 90% should be paid by his employer. Plis salary was [727]*727sufficient to- entitle him to maximum compensation, which at. the time of his accident was $18 per week, which the Board awarded him during his temporary total disability as a result of the mine accident, and it then awarded him 90% of $18, or $16.20 per week, for ten years, subject to certain credits paid him for total tempo1-rary disability not here in dispute. The Board also awarded him $400 for medical expenses. It was agreed that the only questions to be tried by the Board were the extent and duration of appellee’s disa bility and whether or not his refusal to undergo a second operation on his knee was unreasonable.

The Bell Circuit Court affirmed the award and on this appeal the company seeks a reversal of the judgment because: 1. Sparks unreasonably refused to undergo a second operation on his knee and under KRS 342.035 (2) was thereby deprived of compensation for permanent disability, 2. there was no evidence Sparks incurred any expense for medical treatment, therefore the Board should not have allowed him $400, or any sum, under KRS 342.020 ; 3. the injury was confined to appellee’s leg and under KRS 342.110 the compensation for an injury to his leg cannot exceed the sum allowable for the loss of the leg under KRS 342.105 (19).

After his mine accident in September 1946, Sparks worked at a job, where he was off his feet and sitting down, until February 27, 1947, when he was operated upon by Dr. Wilson, who brought the fractured bones together and wired them. The patient was in the'hospital for twenty days and wore a cast on his leg for five months, but the bones did not unite and the operation was not a success. At the suggestion of appellant and upon the advice of Drs. Wilson and Adkins, Sparks went to Knoxville, Tennessee, in September 1947,-for an examination by Dr. Bagwell, an orthopedic surgeon, but the patient refused to follow Dr. Bagwell’s advice and submit to a second operation on his knee. In February 1948, Sparks again went to Dr. Bagwell who made a complete physical examination of him and again recommended. an operation, which the patient again refused.

The second operation was refused by Sparks against the advice of all three of the doctors named above. His reason for refusing was because of a nervous condition, his heart “bothered him a lot”, and he was “just a nervous wreck”. He gave as a further reason for refusing the operation that Dr. Bagwell told him he could not expect the operation to give him a “stout knee”. Dr. Adkins testified the patient was extremely nervous and complained of trouble with his heart but he “rather advised him to take a chance on the operation”. Dr. Wilson testified, “I think his chances are very good of taking the operation all right”; and while he did not think the operation would cure Sparks, he was of the opinion it would greatly improve the patient.

Dr. Bagwell testified that he found no evidence 'of heart trouble when he examined Sparks, whose physical condition was such that there would be no danger to his life from the operation. He could not assure the patient the operation would be “absolutely successful”; nor that one operation would suffice and that it might take several before he could get a union of the bones, “but as a rule it doesn’t”.

Whether Sparks’ refusal to undergo a second operation on his knee was unreasonable was a question of fact and if there' is any proof to sustain the finding of the board, the courts will not disturb that finding. Fordson Coal Co. v. Palko, 282 Ky. 397, 138 S.W.2d 456. Manifestly, the Board’s finding that .Sparks was not unreasonable in refusing to submit to a second operation was based on evidence of substance and of probative value and we will not disturb it. While there was no evidence that the operation would be dangerous to the patient’s life, the proof shows the first operation was unsuccessful; that the patient was very nervous and one doctor testified he complained of being “bothered with his heart.” Also, Sparks had been told, so he testified, by Dr. Bagwell that if the operation was a success he could not expect a “stout knee”, and that the [728]*728operation might ha,ve to be repeated several times before a union of the bones could be accomplished. In Melcher v. Drum-mond Mfg. Co-., 312 Ky. 588, 229 S.W.2d 52, we held that it was not unreasonable under KRS 342.035 (2) for the injured employee to refuse a second operation for hernia when one of the doctors doubted that a cure would be effected.

We fail to find any evidence in the record that Sparks- spent any sum or incurred any bills for medical services, all of which appear to have been borne by the company; therefore the Board should not have made him an allowance of $400 under KRS 342.020. Fame Armstrong Laundry Co. v. Brooks, 226 Ky. 22, 10 S.W.2d 478. The statute jiist cited provides: “In addition to all other compensation provided in this chapter, the employer shall furnish for the cure and relief from the effects of an injury, such medical, surgical and hospital treatment, including nursing, medical and surgical supplies and appliances, as may reasonably be required at the time of the injury and thereafter during disability, but not exceeding a total expense to the employer of more than five hundred dollars.” (At the time of this injury this figure was $400.)

We have construed this statute to mean that the employer will only be required to pay for such reasonable medical services as have been or may be required by reason of the injury. Black Mountain Corp. v. Stewart, 272 Ky. 140, 113.S.W.2d 1141. In Leckie Collieries Co. v. Branham, 275 Ky. 748, 122 S.W.2d 776, 778, we said that if the employer had already paid the medical expenses, the award directing it to do so was without force. In the instant case we construe the award to appellee of $400 for medical expenses to mean that the company is liable for such expense not to exceed that sum.

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Bluebook (online)
249 S.W.2d 725, 1952 Ky. LEXIS 844, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pioneer-coal-co-v-sparks-kyctapp-1952.