Stephens, Tonya Lynn v. Quality Private Care d/b/a Volunteer Staffing, Inc.

2019 TN WC 85
CourtTennessee Court of Workers' Compensation Claims
DecidedMay 24, 2019
Docket2018-03-1494
StatusPublished

This text of 2019 TN WC 85 (Stephens, Tonya Lynn v. Quality Private Care d/b/a Volunteer Staffing, 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
Stephens, Tonya Lynn v. Quality Private Care d/b/a Volunteer Staffing, Inc., 2019 TN WC 85 (Tenn. Super. Ct. 2019).

Opinion

FILED May 24, 2019 08:50 AM(CT)

TENNESSEE COURT OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION CLAIMS

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

AT KNOXVILLE TONYA LYNN STEPHENS, ) Docket No.: 2018-03-1494 Employee, ) V. ) QUALITY PRIVATE CARE d/b/a ) State File No. 59534-2016 VOLUNTEER STAFFING, INC., ) Employer, ) And ) BRIDGEFIELD CASUALTY ) Judge Lisa A. Lowe INSURANCE COMPANY, ) Carrier. )

EXPEDITED HEARING ORDER GRANTING BENEFITS DECISION-ON-THE-RECORD

This matter came before the Court on Ms. Stephens’s Request for Expedited Hearing (REH). She asked that the Court issue its decision based on a review of the record without convening an in-person hearing. Quality Private Care (QPC) objected to a record review and requested an in-person hearing. Based on the limited medical issues involved, the Court overruled the objection, issued a Docketing Notice, and gave the parties until May 7 to file objections and/or position statements.

When Ms. Stephens filed her REH, she sought various treatments ordered by her authorized treating physician, Dr. David Newman, including: medial branch blocks; spinal cord stimulator; right shoulder injection; G.I. evaluation; and compounded creams. After she filed the REH, QPC agreed to authorize all of the treatments except the compound creams. Therefore, the legal issue is whether Ms. Stephens is likely to prevail at a hearing on the merits in proving entitlement to the compounded creams. For the reasons set forth below, the Court holds Ms. Stephens would likely prevail and orders QPC to provide the compound creams. History of Claim

QPC provided in-home nursing for homebound patients and employed Ms. Stephens as a Licensed Practical Nurse. While transferring a patient to a bed in August 2016, Ms. Stephens felt a pop in her left shoulder and experienced pain shooting down her left arm into her wrist and fingers. She also felt pain in her neck, back, left hip, and pain and numbness down her left lower extremity. Ms. Stephens notified her supervisor and wrote a statement that day. She also completed QPC’s Statement of Injured Worker’s Form.

Ms. Stephens initially underwent conservative treatment, but after continued pain and an MRI, QPC provided a panel of orthopedic surgeons. Ms. Stephens chose Dr. William Hovis, who diagnosed her with a rotator cuff tear and SLAP lesion. He recommended surgery, which he performed in November. Due to Ms. Stephens’s post- surgery pain complaints, Dr. Hovis ordered a left shoulder arthrogram and performed another surgery after reviewing the arthrogram results.

After the second surgery, Ms. Stephens experienced sensitivity symptoms, and Dr. Hovis diagnosed possible complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). He recommended a stellate ganglion block, and Ms. Stephens underwent two of those without much improvement. After Dr. Hovis recommended a third block, Ms. Stephens refused and elected to concentrate on physical therapy. She last saw Dr. Hovis in November 2017, and he referred her for evaluation with a shoulder specialist, Dr. Sean Grace.

Dr. Grace, sent Ms. Stephens for another shoulder MRI. After the MRI, Dr. Grace diagnosed Ms. Stephens with CRPS and recommended evaluation with Dr. Robert Lavelle for possible sympathetic nerve blocks.

Instead of scheduling an appointment with Dr. Lavelle, QPC circulated another panel of physicians. Ms. Stephens chose Dr. David Newman, a pain management specialist, as her authorized physician. Dr. Newman evaluated Ms. Stephens and confirmed her diagnoses of CRPS, lumbar facet syndrome, and dysthymic disorder. As part of his treatment plan, he prescribed various things, including the following compounded creams: Gabapentin, 3%; Ketoprofen, 2%; Lidocaine, 2.5%; Bupivicaine, 2.5%; and Ketamine, 15%.

On April 18, 2018, QPC submitted Dr. Newman’s orders to Utilization Review (UR) with Dr. Mahajan, who denied the recommended treatment based on his opinion that Ms. Stephens did not have CRPS. Concerning the compounded creams, Dr. Mahajan noted that topical analgesics are largely experimental and have few trials to determine efficacy and safety. Further, he stated that the compounded creams are primarily recommended when trials of antidepressants and anticonvulsants have failed and there was no indication that the Gabapentin and Cymbalta Ms. Stephens took had failed. On

2 September 18, 2018, QPC submitted the compounded creams to UR for a second time. Again, Dr. Mahajan found the compounded creams not medically necessary.

Dr. Neman somewhat disagreed with the effectiveness of the Cymbalta. In response to a letter, he wrote that Ms. Stephens’s Cymbalta helped with anxiety and sleep but not her pain and that the compounded cream plus her Cymbalta is an effective medication combination for CRPS.

Later, Dr. Newman again recommended a spinal cord stimulator trial, right- shoulder steroid-injection, compounded creams and GI evaluation. QPC submitted the spinal cord stimulator treatment to UR on January 2, 2019, and this time Dr. Mahajan said Ms. Stephens had symptoms consistent with CRPS and that the previously denied spinal cord stimulator trial was now medically necessary and appropriate. Dr. Mahajan’s report did not address the medical necessity of Dr. Newman’s other recommended treatment.

Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

Ms. Stephens need not prove every element of her claim by a preponderance of the evidence to obtain relief. McCord v. Advantage Human Resourcing, 2015 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 6, at *7-8, 9 (Mar. 27, 2015). Instead, she must present sufficient evidence to prove she is likely to prevail at a hearing on the merits. Jd.; Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-239(d)(1) (2018).

Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-204(a)(1)(A) provides that “[t]he employer or the employer’s agent shall furnish, free of charge to the employee, such medical and surgical treatment . . . made reasonably necessary by accident as defined in this chapter.” Moreover, “treatment recommended by a physician . . . selected pursuant to [§ 50-6-204(a)(3)] or by referral, if applicable, shall be presumed to be medically necessary for treatment of the injured employee Tenn. Code Ann.§ 50-6-204(a)(3)(H). . . and shall be rebuttable only by clear and convincing evidence that the recommended treatment substantially deviates from the guidelines[.]” Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6- 204(a)(3)(1); see also Morgan v. Macy’s, 2016 TN Wrk. Comp. ADB: Bd. LEXIS 39, at *17 (Aug. 31, 2016).

Here, the panel-selected physician, Dr. Newman, recommended compounded creams to treat Ms. Stephens’s symptoms. The UR physician, Dr. Mahajan, originally denied all of Dr. Newman’s treatment recommendations, including the compounded creams, because he did not think Ms. Stephens had CRPS, despite the CRPS diagnosis from Drs. Newman, Hovis, and Grace. Upon resubmission, Dr. Mahajan changed his mind and found Ms. Stephens did have CRPS. While he agreed that certain treatments were medically necessary, he did not address the compounded creams. The Court faces conflicting medical opinions from Dr. Mahajan and Dr. Newman. A trial judge “has the discretion to conclude that the opinion of one expert should be accepted over that of another expert.” Bass v. The Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., 2017 TN Wrk. Comp. App. Bd. LEXIS 36, at *9 (May 26, 2017). As stated by the Tennessee Supreme Court, “When faced . . . with conflicting medical testimony . . .

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2019 TN WC 85, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stephens-tonya-lynn-v-quality-private-care-dba-volunteer-staffing-inc-tennworkcompcl-2019.