Candy Myers v Quanta Services
Inj. No. 15-099678
affirmed Oct 18, 2017.
The Commission affirmed a temporary award for benefits for a 57-year old who experienced a pop in her knee while unplugging a device, and the commission rejected a medical causation defense based on mechanism of accident. .
Claimant testified in 2015 she was under her desk unplugging computer cords and heard a pop in her knee. She was moving her work station. An MRI identified a meniscus and ACL tear and marked degenerative changes.
Dr. Hopkins provided a report on behalf of the claimant that the accident was the direct and prevailing factor in a torn meniscus because claimant would have been symptomatic from the nature of the tear. He concurred with the treating physician that the only way to repair the knee was a total knee replacement because of the prior degenerative conditions.
The employer relied upon expert opinion of Dr. Strange who felt she had prior ACL and meniscus tears that were not caused by the accident based on the mechanism of injury. The ALJ noted the expert went through "unusual effort" to dismiss the mechanism of injury. Claimant asserted she was asymptomatic from a prior surgery to the same knee. The ALJ felt the variances in the documented medical histories were not material.
The ALJ relied upon Tillotson v St. Joseph Medical Center, 347 S.W.3d 511 (Mo. App. 2011) as a basis to award further medical care to cure and relieve the effects of the injury, including the cost of a total knee replacement.
ALJ Siedlik
Atty: Alvarez, Walsh
Experts: Paul, Hopkins, Strong
