In the Lauderdale County Circuit Court, the employee (a certified nursing assistant) sued her employer (a nursing home) for a work-related injury that occurred when she fell while assisting a nursing home resident. The injury occurred on April 21, 2006. The employee reported the accident and the nursing home filed an employer’s first report of injury. The employee was sent to see a physician, who diagnosed the employee as suffering from upper thoracic strain. The employee returned to work the next day.
In 2004, the employee had visited a physician who ordered a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. The MRI revealed a bulging disc in the employee’s spine. On April 12, 2006 (before the fall), the employee also visited a physician and complained of pain in her shoulders, neck, back, and arms. On May 31 (after the injury on April 21), the employee once again visited the same physician complaining of the same general symptoms in her neck and shoulders, but did tell her physician about her work-place injury. In fact, she visited this same physician on August 3, October 18, and October 28, 2006—each time complaining of the same symptoms. On each of these subsequent visits, she never mentioned her work-place injury. On October 9, 2007, when the employee sought pain-management treatment from another physician (the third), she finally related her pain and the work-place injury. (She had stopped working for the nursing home in May 2006.)
In May 2007, she sued the nursing home, seeking workers’ compensation benefits. On May 29, 2009, the circuit court found that the injury was work related and therefore covered by workers’ compensation. In October 2009, the nursing home sent the employee to a physician (of its choice as allowed by the Workers’ Compensation Act). This physician concluded that the employee was not a good candidate for cervical disc surgery. This physician recommended pain-management treatment, but indicated that the employee’s insurance should pay for the treatment since she had been having the same symptoms before the work-place injury. Therefore, the nursing home refused to provide pain-management treatment.
The employee returned to circuit court to request that the nursing home be held in contempt for refusing to provide the treatment. The circuit court declined to hold the nursing home in contempt, but did order that (a) another physician examine the employee or (b) the employer provide pain-management treatment. The employee rejected an examination of another physician chosen by the nursing home, but did select another physician from a panel of four presented by the nursing home—a procedure provided by the Workers’ Compensation Act. This physician likewise found that the employee was not a good candidate for cervical disc surgery. He likewise indicated that pain-management treatment would be beneficial, but indicated the employee’s insurance should pay for the treatment since she had been having the same symptoms before the work-place injury. Once again, the nursing home refused to provide pain-management treatment. And once again, the employee went to the circuit court seeking to have the nursing home held in contempt of court and to compel medical treatment.
On September 27, 2010, the circuit court granted the employee’s motion. The nursing home then appealed to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. Because the circuit court did not make detailed finding of facts and conclusions of law, the appeals court decided it could not decide the merits of the nursing home’s appeal. The appeals court remanded the case to the circuit court with instructions to make detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law. See Ex Parte El Reposo Nursing Home Group, Inc., decided on March 25, 2011.
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