By: The Workers' Compensation Practice Group
Reid v. Virginia Commonwealth University
Rec. No. 0478-13-2 (Va. Ct. App. Oct. 22, 2013)
The Court of Appeals affirmed the Commission’s decision to deny the claimant’s request for medical benefits for the neck and left shoulder. The Court of Appeals affirmed the finding that these injuries were not compensable consequences of the prior right shoulder injury.
The claimant underwent a month of physical therapy for her right shoulder upon referral from her treating physician. After completing the physical therapy, she returned to her treating physician, who discharged her from physical therapy due to the improvement in her condition. On her own volition, the claimant returned to physical therapy the following day and injured her neck and left shoulder.
The claimant argued that the neck and left shoulder were compensable consequences of her right shoulder injury. The Court of Appeals affirmed the findings below that the claimant’s neck and left shoulder injuries arose from physical therapy that was not necessary medical treatment causally related to the compensable accident. The Court of Appeals noted that the claimant’s “seeking and performing unauthorized medical treatment constitute[d] a break in the causal relationship between her compensable injury and her subsequent…injury such that the latter [wa]s not a compensable consequence.”
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