Injured worker Betty Thompson was employed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Public Welfare, Selinsgrove Center, as a licensed practical nurse for seven (7) years. On September 30, 2012, she suffered a work injury to the right hip and low back when she slipped and fell on a wet floor at work. This work injury was accepted by Notice of Compensation Payable described as “right hip and low back strain”. The workers’ compensation insurance carrier is Inservco. Listing the legally accepted injury as merely a strain is an often used (almost universally used) tactic to minimize what disability and what medical expenses the workers’ comp carrier has to automatically pay. It can take well over a year for a judge to make a workers’ compensation carrier responsible for medical treatment not clearly related to the accepted “strain” injury (i.e., surgery, injections, etc.)
On June 25, 2013, Defendant Inservco filed a Termination Petition to stop workers’ compensation benefits as of April 12, 2013 based on an Independent Medical Examination (IME) by Dr. Richard G. Schmidt. This Petition was assigned to the a workers’ compensation judge sitting in Williamsport, PA.
In support of their Petition, Defendant Inservco presented the testimony of Dr. Richard G. Schmidt, and the Judge found his testimony not credible that injured worker was fully recovered from the work injury.
In defense of the Termination Petition, the injured worker and her treating physician, Dr. Matthew Eager, testified and the Judge found their testimony credible. Dr. Eager testified that injured worker has had continuous complaints of right sacroiliac joint, posterior hip and right leg pain and right leg numbness, that he imposed sedentary restrictions of no lifting over 10 lbs., that Betty was not fully recovered from the work injury, and that the description of injury should include right sacroiliitis, right trochanteric bursitis and lumbar spondylosis with right lower extremity radicular irritation. Betty testified that, since the work injury, she has experienced right leg and right buttock area pain aggravated by walking or sitting, and that she cannot perform her LPN duties as pushing a cart, bending and walking could aggravate her symptoms. Dr. Schmidt’s testimony was not found to be credible, competent or persuasive as the treating physician’s testimony.
The Judge denied and dismissed Defendant Inservco’s Termination Petition, finding that Betty was not fully recovered from her work injury. The Judge amended the description of injury to include right hip bursitis and sacroiliitis, and ordered Defendant to continue paying workers’ compensation wage loss benefits, medical benefits, and ongoing attorney fees; along with the injured worker costs of litigation for defending the Termination Petition.
