Supreme Court Denies Surgery Authorization for Worker Years After Injury

The West Virginia Supreme Court upheld a denial of a worker’s request for surgery years after a back injury for which he was found to have reached maximum medical improvement. Larry Gray worked for Performance Coal Co. as a miner. He injured his back at work and underwent lumbar micro-laminectomies in 1991. A preoperative computed tomography scan showed bulging between L4-L5 and a herniated disc between L5-S1. Gray filed another workers’ compensation claim in January 2003 for injuries he sustained from a fall down steps. The West Virginia Workers' Compensation Division ap...