Worker Can't Get Order Compelling Treatment

Wednesday, October 31, 2018 | 0

The Tennessee Supreme Court last week adopted a decision by the Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel that overturned a trial judge’s order compelling an employer to provide an employee with treatment for a shoulder injury.

Although Rita Hurst had established the compensability of her injury through a settlement with her employer, the panel said the fact that she never secured a court order awarding future medical treatment meant that a judge lacked jurisdiction to make the employer pay for her care.

Hurst had worked as a paramedic for the Claiborne County Hospital and Nursing Home.

In January 2001, Hurst was riding in an ambulance when it collided with another vehicle. Hurst filed a workers’ compensation claim, asserting that she had suffered physical and emotional injuries.

Hurst amended her claim to add the state’s Second Injury Fund as a defendant and to assert an alleged psychological injury from an incident in October 2000 when she encountered a severely abused infant.

The hospital settled Hurst’s claims in November 2006, and a trial judge signed off on their agreement.

The terms of the agreement provided Hurst with 400 weeks of total disability benefits for her mental injuries from the October 2000 incident, as well as future care.

Neither the settlement agreement nor the judge’s order approving the settlement mentioned the January 2001 car accident. The settlement agreement and order made no mention of Hurst’s alleged physical injuries, either. The order of judgment did state that the settlement was a full and final settlement of any claims Hurst may have for workers’ compensation benefits, other than the specified medical treatment.

After the settlement was finalized, Hurst voluntarily dismissed her claim against the Second Injury Fund for any injuries arising out of the January 2001 collision. She then filed a new claim against the hospital and the Second Injury Fund seeking benefits for physical injuries from the January 2001 car accident.

Hurst settled the claim in April 2009 in exchange for the payment of permanent partial disability benefits and the promise of payment for future medical directly related to her injuries.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development signed off on the settlement, not a judge.

Seven years later, Hurst filed a motion to compel payment for the treatment she had allegedly received for shoulder injury that was caused by the January 2001 car accident.

A trial judge granted the motion, and the hospital appealed.

The hospital argued that the trial judge lacked jurisdiction to compel treatment for Hurst’s physical injuries because there was no court order awarding her a right to medical treatment for her physical injuries.

The Supreme Court of Tennessee’s Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel vacated the judge’s ruling.

At the time of Hurst's injury, the panel said, Tennessee Code Annotated Section 50-6-204(b)(2) allowed a trial judge to compel an employer to provide medical treatment if the employer had failed to provide treatment “pursuant to a settlement or judgment under this chapter.”

The panel said the hospital did not fail to furnish appropriate medical treatment for purposes of Section 50-6-204(b)(2).

While the April 2009 settlement agreement provided Hurst with medical benefits for her physical injuries, the panel noted that a trial judge never approved of the deal.

The version of the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Law applicable to the 2001 car accident did not provide any mechanism for the enforcement of a department-approved agreement that had not been approved by a judge, the panel said. Thus, the panel said the trial judge had no basis to compel the provision of medical treatment for Hurst’s physical injuries.

The Supreme Court accepted and adopted the panel’s decision as its own ruling last week.

To read the decision in Hurst v. Claiborne County Hospital and Nursing Home, click here.