Soard v. Town & Country Supermarkets

193 S.W.3d 446, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 847, 2006 WL 1610259
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 13, 2006
DocketNo. 27093
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 193 S.W.3d 446 (Soard v. Town & Country Supermarkets) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Soard v. Town & Country Supermarkets, 193 S.W.3d 446, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 847, 2006 WL 1610259 (Mo. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

JOHN E. PARRISH, Judge.

Michelle Soard (claimant) appeals an award by the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (the commission). The commission awarded claimant 70% permanent partial disability of the left lower extremity finding that claimant’s injury was not a “body as a whole” disability. The commission further ordered payment of past medical expenses and found Town and Country Supermarkets (employer) and its insurer responsible for future “medical care as directed and coordinated by Dr. Reisler and Dr. Swarm or such other neurologist and pain management specialist designated by employer/insurer.” This court affirms

Claimant was employed as a cake decorator. On August 11, 2000, she tripped over a water hose that was stretched across the kitchen in the deli area of employer’s premises. She fell on her left knee. Claimant finished her work shift that day, then sought medical treatment at the Ripley County Family Clinic for pain she was experiencing in her left knee.

Claimant was examined at the clinic by a nurse practitioner, Dorothy Walker. Claimant received prescription pain medication and an x-ray of the left knee and was instructed to apply ice to her knee. She was excused from work through September 7, 2000.

Claimant continued to receive treatment at the clinic. An ultrasound and an MRI were performed on claimant’s left lower extremity due to complaints of persistent pain in her left knee and pain that progressed to her left foot. The tests were negative for injury to claimant’s leg or foot. Claimant was referred to Dr. John H. True and Dr. Steven C. Winters, orthopedists, and Dr. Shahid K. Choudhary, a neurologist.

Dr. True found no objective evidence of an injury upon examination of claimant. He concluded, based on claimant’s subjective complaints, that she suffered a contusion secondary from her injury. He re[448]*448leased claimant from work for one month and ordered physical therapy for her left lower extremity, knee, and ankle.

Dr. Winters ordered examination radio-graphs and MRI evaluation. He found no evidence of a fracture, internal derangement, or underlying bone injury. He noted limited mobility in claimant’s left ankle, pain with “even light palpation on the leg,” and “marked wasting” of the left quadriceps muscle. He ordered “intensive physical therapy to work on regaining mobility within the knee and ankle.” Dr. Winters continued claimant off work.

Dr. Choudhary evaluated claimant. Claimant presented complaints of swelling and pain in her left knee, pain in her left arm and foot, and numbness and tingling in her left foot. The patient history Dr. Choudhary recorded indicated claimant had experienced “numbness, tingling, and pain in her left foot and ankle” for four weeks. Claimant complained that the physical therapy Dr. Winters ordered exacerbated her symptoms.

Dr. Choudhary noted swelling and discoloration of the lower left leg and foot. He scheduled a bone scan and EMG nerve conduction studies and suggested nerve blocks if claimant’s symptoms persisted. The MRI of claimant’s knee reported normal. The EMG nerve conduction studies were not performed due to claimant’s inability to tolerate the pain associated with the tests. Dr. Choudhary diagnosed claimant with possible reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), also known as regional pain syndrome. He excused claimant from work “until further notice” and ordered further physical therapy treatment. He noted that claimant suffered severe dysto-nia in her foot; that the dystonia was not responding to medication and that botox injections were needed.

After examinations by Dr. True, Dr. Winters, and Dr. Choudhary, claimant was examined, at employer’s request, by three other doctors, Dr. Yadava, Dr. Dunteman,1 a pain management specialist, and Dr. No-galski, an orthopedist. These examinations were followed by treatments and evaluations of claimant by three additional physicians, Dr. Shuter, Dr. Reisler, and Dr. Swarm, as well as additional treatments at the Ripley County Family Clinic and treatments on numerous occasions at a local emergency room for pain relief during times when claimant was receiving treatments by the other physicians. The Ripley County Family Clinic concluded claimant had exhausted its treatment capabilities by January 1, 2001.

Dr. Shuter examined claimant November 28, 2000. He diagnosed her as having complex regional pain syndrome accompanied by dystonic spasms. Dr. Reisler, a neurologist, evaluated claimant January 5, 2001. His opinion was that claimant had symptoms of multiple sclerosis. He admitted claimant to Barnes Hospital for testing. She was hospitalized ten days. Dr. Reisler concluded she suffered from RSD. He emphasized, in his review of her condition, that claimant’s continued smoking would likely slow her recovery. He continued treatment of claimant until February 19, 2002, when he released claimant for return to work.

Claimant was also treated by Dr. Swarm for pain management during the time she was under Dr. Reisler’s care. He provided weekly epidural shots through February 2001 and continued other treatment through 2001 into 2002.

[449]*449Dr. Shuter rated claimant’s condition as permanent partial disability of “35 percent of a person.” Dr. Reisler rated claimant’s condition at 80% permanent partial disability of the body as a whole. He concluded claimant had maximum medical improvement May 19, 2003. He also questioned the extent of claimant’s symptoms. See n. 1, supra.

The commission made the following finding.

We do not find [claimant’s] complaints entirely credible. The treating records are replete with reference to [claimant] exaggerating her symptoms. We do not dispute that she has CRPS and that her condition is painful. However, we do not find that her condition is as excruciating or as disabling as she described. We further find that her injury is at the level of the left knee and is not a “body as a whole” disability. We find [claimant] sustained 70% permanent partial disability at the 160-week level.... The permanent partial disability period shall commence running from May 19, 2003, which is the date that Dr. Reisler found that [claimant] reached maximum medical improvement.

As Henley v. Tan Co., Inc., 140 S.W.3d 195 (Mo.App.2004), explains:

On appellate review, a court must examine the whole record to determine if the Commission’s award is supported by competent and substantial evidence. Hampton [v. Big Boy Steel Erection, 121 S.W.3d 220] at 222-223 [ (Mo.banc 2003) ]. In reviewing whether awards of the Commission are against the overwhelming weight of the evidence, the power of the court does not extend to reweighing the evidence. Id. Instead, the appellate court must determine whether the Commission could have reasonably made its findings and reached its result upon consideration of all of the evidence before it. Totten v. Treasurer of State, 116 S.W.3d 624, 629 (Mo.App. E.D.2003).
Additionally, “findings of fact made by the [Commission within its powers shall be conclusive and binding.” Section 287.495.1.[2

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360 S.W.3d 285 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2012)
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Bluebook (online)
193 S.W.3d 446, 2006 Mo. App. LEXIS 847, 2006 WL 1610259, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/soard-v-town-country-supermarkets-moctapp-2006.