Peggy Hammond v. National Health Corp d/b/a Athens Health Care Center

This worker's compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with the provisions of Tennessee Code Annotated _5-6-225 (e) (3) (1998 Supp.) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. The Trial Court found the worker to suffer from a condition known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy, and awarded the Appellee forty-five percent vocational disability apportioned to the body as a whole. The employer appeals asserting a number of grounds for reversal. We have considered each of the issues raised on appeal, and further we have weighed the evidence ourselves, as we are required to do, with a presumption of correctness of the decision of the Trial Judge as to factual matters, and without presumption as to legal issues. We have considered the testimony presented in the record, including the depositions of a number of medical professionals, and the record of live testimony presented before the Trial Judge. We find that the award of the Trial Judge should be modified to provide for twenty-five percent vocational disability, and further modified with regard to costs of medical and psychological care, but otherwise the decision of the Trial Judge should be affirmed.