COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: Judges Annunziata, Agee and Senior Judge Coleman
GAIL V. SORRELL
MEMORANDUM OPINION*
v. Record No. 2055-02-2 PER CURIAM
NOVEMBER 19, 2002
CHESAPEAKE BAY AGENCY ON AGING, INC. AND
CINCINNATI INSURANCE COMPANY
FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION
(Gail V. Sorrell, pro se, on brief).
(Calvin W. Fowler, Jr.; Williams Mullen, on
brief), for appellees.
Gail V. Sorrell (claimant) contends the Workers'
Compensation Commission erred in finding that she failed to
prove a causal connection between her July 6, 2000 compensable
injury by accident and her disability from January 29, 2001 to
May 30, 2001. Upon reviewing the record and the parties'
briefs, we conclude that this appeal is without merit.
Accordingly, we summarily affirm the commission's decision.
Rule 5A:27.
On appeal, we view the evidence in the light most favorable
to the prevailing party below. R.G. Moore Bldg. Corp. v.
Mullins, 10 Va. App. 211, 212, 390 S.E.2d 788, 788 (1990).
Unless we can say as a matter of law that claimant's evidence
* Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opinion is not
designated for publication.
sustained her burden of proof, the commission's findings are
binding and conclusive upon us. See Tomko v. Michael's
Plastering Co., 210 Va. 697, 699, 173 S.E.2d 833, 835 (1970).
On July 6, 2000, claimant sustained a compensable injury by
accident when she was involved in a motor vehicle accident while
in the course of her employment. On that day, in the hospital
emergency room, claimant complained of right arm and shoulder
pain, as well as right thigh and iliac crest pain.
On July 11, 2000, claimant received follow-up treatment
from her family physician, Dr. Lisa Jenkins. Dr. Jenkins noted
that claimant sustained lower back pain and an arm contusion.
On July 21, 2000, claimant told Dr. Jenkins that other than some
stiffness in her arms at times, she had no complaints.
On November 6, 2000, claimant returned to Dr. Jenkins,
reporting that her right "arm never completely felt better."
Claimant indicated that her right forearm pain had worsened over
the previous three weeks. Dr. Jenkins noted that claimant
believed that her job of delivering meals, which required that
she lift the meals, had caused her right arm pain to return.
On November 21, 2000, Dr. Jenkins prescribed MRI studies of
claimant's cervical spine and right upper extremity. Those
studies showed small disc protrusions at the C4-5, C5-6, and
C6-7 levels, without significant cord deformity or compression.
The neck MRI was normal.
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On January 31, 2001, Dr. Jenkins examined claimant for
"follow-up of right arm pain from 11/21/00." Dr. Jenkins
reported that "[s]ince 1/26/01, pt. has had low back pain
radiating down her left hip. She drove a van at work which 'had
a low seat that caused [her] back pain on 1/26/01.'"
Dr. Jenkins excused claimant from work, and prescribed a whole
body bone scan and a lumbar spine MRI. After those studies were
performed, Dr. Jenkins referred claimant for an orthopedic
evaluation.
On March 15, 2001, Dr. Paul DiMartino, a spine surgeon,
evaluated claimant for "the complaint of spinal column pain."
Dr. DiMartino noted that claimant related the onset of her
symptoms to the July 2000 motor vehicle accident. Dr. DiMartino
noted that claimant returned to work two weeks after the July
2000 accident and worked until January 26, 2001, when the pain
became unbearable. Dr. DiMartino examined claimant and reviewed
the imaging studies. He concluded that "[n]o specific pathology
is noted."
On April 5, 2001, Dr. DiMartino examined claimant for her
"complaint of spinal column discomfort." He continued her
physical therapy and reported that she could not return to work.
On May 24, 2001, Dr. DiMartino reported that claimant's
symptoms had "relatively improved" when compared to previous
examinations. Dr. DiMartino released claimant to return to work
as of May 30, 2001.
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On July 5, 2001, in response to a letter from claimant's
counsel, Dr. DiMartino indicated that he was not aware of any
injury for which he was treating claimant, other than the July
6, 2000 accident.
The medical records revealed that claimant was treated for
a whiplash-type neck injury on October 21, 1991, after a motor
vehicle accident. She also complained of low back and left knee
pain at that time. On April 5, 1994, claimant was treated
following another motor vehicle accident a day earlier. At that
time, claimant complained of pains radiating from her shoulder
to her hip. The emergency room physicians diagnosed acute
cervical, thoracic, and lumbar muscle problems. On March 26,
2000, claimant was treated in a hospital emergency room for
complaints of back and shoulder pain. On March 30, 2000,
Dr. Jenkins reported that this scapular back pain had resolved.
In her hearing testimony, claimant admitted that she may
have been involved in one or two motor vehicle accidents before
the July 6, 2000 accident. She admitted that these accidents
may have involved lower back, neck, and shoulder injuries. She
also admitted she sustained a muscle sprain to her back while
working for another employer in March 2000. She claimed that
the sprain had resolved by July 2000.
"Medical evidence is not necessarily conclusive, but is
subject to the commission's consideration and weighing."
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Hungerford Mechanical Corp. v. Hobson, 11 Va. App. 675, 677, 401
S.E.2d 213, 215 (1991). As fact finder, the commission weighed
the medical evidence, and rejected the opinions of
Drs. DiMartino and Jenkins. In so ruling, the commission noted
that Dr. DiMartino was not fully informed of claimant's history
of similar past injuries. The record supports that finding.
Where a medical opinion is based upon an incomplete or
inaccurate medical history, the commission is entitled to
conclude that the opinion is of little probative value. See
Clinchfield Coal Co. v. Bowman, 229 Va. 249, 251-52, 329 S.E.2d
15, 16 (1985). Furthermore, in rejecting Dr. Jenkins' opinions,
the commission noted that no evidence showed that claimant had
continuing and symptomatic problems since the July 6, 2000
accident, except for her hearing testimony. The commission
correctly noted that when claimant presented to Dr. Jenkins with
right forearm problems on November 6, 2000, she attributed her
symptoms to repeated lifting at work, and when she presented on
January 31, 2001, she attributed her most recent back symptoms
to a low seat in her vehicle some five days earlier. She did
not attribute either of these problems to the compensable July
6, 2000 motor vehicle accident.
Based upon this record, we cannot find as a matter of law
that claimant's evidence sustained her burden of proving that
her disability from January 29, 2001 through May 30, 2001 was
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causally connected to the July 6, 2000 compensable injury by
accident.
For these reasons, we affirm the commission's decision.
Affirmed.
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