Port Gibson Oil Works v. Estate of Hughes

823 So. 2d 613, 2002 Miss. App. LEXIS 443, 2002 WL 1797148
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedAugust 6, 2002
DocketNo. 2001-WC-01449-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 823 So. 2d 613 (Port Gibson Oil Works v. Estate of Hughes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Port Gibson Oil Works v. Estate of Hughes, 823 So. 2d 613, 2002 Miss. App. LEXIS 443, 2002 WL 1797148 (Mich. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

LEE, J.,

for the court.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY AND FACTS

¶ 1. The claimant/appellee in this case, Jesse Hughes, formerly worked for the appellant, Port Gibson Oil Works. In 1984, Hughes was injured in a work-related accident, which resulted in the loss of his left leg. Thereafter, Hughes moved to Illinois. In 1998, Hughes filed a motion to compel with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, asking that his former employer, Port Gibson Oil Works, make substantial renovations to his Illinois home to enable him to use a wheelchair for mobility, plus pay for nursing services and in-home physical therapy. The administrative law judge who reviewed the motion reserved issuing an order to compel the renovations until Hughes presented specific evidence that such renovations were medically necessary at that time. Hughes presented the deposition of registered nurse Jackie Moore, who evaluated Hughes’s home and noted that although Hughes was presently ambulatory, he would likely become wheelchair bound in the future. Both Hughes and his wife also testified that Hughes used crutches, only using a wheelchair for outings away from home. Additionally, Hughes’s orthopedic doctor, Dr. Ronald Romanelli, verified that [614]*614Hughes’s health was rapidly deteriorating and that payment for nursing services was both reasonable and necessary. The administrative law judge later ordered the employer to make the requested modifications to Hughes’s Illinois home, plus ordered the employer to provide physical therapy and to compensate Hughes’s wife for certain services she performed for Hughes, including dispensing medication, performing massages and assisting with Hughes’s bath. The Commission affirmed the administrative law judge’s decision, as did the Claiborne County Circuit Court. The employer now appeals to this Court.

¶ 2. After the appellant and the appellee filed their initial briefs, Mr. Hughes died. In the reply brief, the appellant notes all claims are moot except for the claim for payment of compensation to Mrs. Hughes for nursing services rendered prior to her husband’s death. We review this issue and find the Commission had sufficient evidence to find such payment was necessary. Thus, we affirm.

DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

I. WAS THE COMMISSION’S DECISION TO AWARD MRS. HUGHES PAYMENT FOR NURSING SERVICES SUPPORTED BY SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE?

¶ 3. At the outset, we note our standard of review in this situation.

The Workers’ Compensation Commission sits as the “ultimate finder of facts” in deciding compensation cases, and therefore, “its findings are subject to normal, deferential standards upon review.”
We hold that judicial review of findings of the Commission extends to a determination of whether they are clearly erroneous. And a finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is some slight evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made by the Commission in its findings of fact and in its application of the Act.

J.R. Logging v. Halford, 765 So.2d 580 (¶¶ 12-13) (Miss.Ct.App.2000) (citations omitted). The employer argues that the Commission’s decision was clearly erroneous, since insufficient evidence existed to support the decision to award Mrs. Hughes payment for nursing services.

¶ 4. The statute involved with this matter is Miss.Code Ann. § 71-3-15 (Supp. 2001), which concerns payment of future medical services for work-related injuries. That statute states in part, “[t]he employer shall furnish such medical, surgical, and other attendance or treatment, nurse and hospital service, medicine, crutches, artificial members, and other apparatus for such period as the nature of the injury or the process of recovery may require.” Miss.Code Ann. § 71-3-15 (Supp.2001).

¶ 5. The Commission found that Mrs. Hughes was entitled to payment for providing four hours of nursing services per day to her husband, but the employer contends that such payment is not supported by evidence. A primary question is whether or not the services rendered were necessary or medically prescribed, or were simply performed by a spouse to assist Mr. Hughes and to improve his quality of life. A leading Mississippi treatise has addressed this situation.

The Act provides for the payment by the employer for such nursing services as the nature of the employee’s injury may require. This includes nursing care in the employee’s home. There is no statutory limitation and the employer’s obligation to provide nursing care is measured .by the reasonable requirements [615]*615for nursing services in the circumstances of each case.
In some instances the spouse of an injured employee may be able, willing and desirous of providing the required nursing care in the home. In such cases, the employer may be required to compensate the wife of an injured employee for nursing services provided in the home....
When the wife of an injured employee qualifies for remuneration for providing required nursing services, the rate of pay may be related to the hourly wages customarily paid to licensed practical nurses in the general area of the employee’s home. In determining the number of hours for which payment is to be made, it is necessary to separate the required nursing services from the wife’s general household duties and work that a wife ordinarily performs in the home in caring for her husband and family. It is also desirable that the testimony of doctors be produced in proof of the nature and extent of the patient’s requirements. Upon proof of this nature, the commission may make a fair approximation of time required for special nursing services and direct the employer to compensate the wife of an injured employee on this basis.
In evaluating a spouse’s function in terms of the “nursing” services allowable under the Act, it is immaterial that the services are willingly performed or that the tasks are essentially non-technical, such as those routinely performed by orderlies or practical nurses in hospitals. For example, assistance from the wife of a paraplegic with his prescribed therapeutic exercises may qualify as an allowable nursing service, although no special medical training is required.

Dunn, Mississippi Workmen’s Compensation, § 341.1 (3d Ed.1982).

¶ 6. The Mississippi Supreme Court first addressed the question of one spouse providing nursing services for another spouse in Graham v. City of Kosciusko, 339 So.2d 60 (Miss.1976). In Graham, the claimant’s wife sought payment for nursing services she rendered to her husband from the time of his injury in 1964 up to 1975. Graham, 339 So.2d at 62. The court found payment was in order, but also found that it was unable to calculate such award since insufficient testimony and evidence was presented concerning the nature of the duties and how many hours per day the wife performed such duties. Id at 65. The court did give guidance for the lower court on remand, instructing the court to separate required nursing services from general household duties and work that a wife ordinarily performs in and about the home in looking after and caring for her husband and children. Id.

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823 So. 2d 613, 2002 Miss. App. LEXIS 443, 2002 WL 1797148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/port-gibson-oil-works-v-estate-of-hughes-missctapp-2002.