James Peeler v. Methodis Medical Center

This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting of findings of fact and conclusions of law. The appellant contends the trial court erred (1) in finding a causal relationship between the claimant's employment and his injury and (2) in finding the claimant will retain permanent partial disabilities of forty-five percent to the right arm and thirty percent to the left arm. As discussed below, the panel has concluded the judgment should be affirmed. The claimant or employee is thirty years old with a GED. He is a certified nursing assistant and had, at the time of his injury, worked for the employer, Methodist Medical Center, since 1991 as an attendant. His duties included turning, bathing, weighing and walking patients and pushing stretchers and wheel chairs of patients. He gradually developed carpal tunnel syndrome. Dr. Eugenio Vargas treated the claimant and ultimately performed bilateral carpal tunnel surgery. He testified the injuries were causally related to the claimant's job and that he would retain a ten percent permanent impairment to both arms. Dr. Clifford Posman viewed the claimant's medical records, including the reports of Dr. Vargas, and opined that the claimant's injuries were not work-related. Rodney Caldwell, a vocational consultant, opined the claimant was forty-seven percent vocationally disabled. The trial court found the injuries to be compensable and fixed the claimant's permanent partial disability at thirty-seven and one-half percent to both arms.1 Appellate review is de novo upon the record of the trial court, accompanied by a presumption of correctness of the findings of fact, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise. Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6- 225(e)(2). From a careful consideration of the medical and lay proof in this case, the panel is unable to say the evidence preponderates against the trial judge's finding that the injuries are work-related. The first issue is resolved in favor the employee. 1 More precisely, the trial judge awarded benefits on the basis of 45% to the right arm and 3% to the left arm, which equates to 37 1/2% to both arms, a scheduled injury. 2/24/98