Derrick v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board

Opinion

BARRY-DEAL, J. We issued a writ on the petition of the employee to review an order of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (Board) denying reconsideration of an award of future medical expenses for the employee which expressly excluded chiropractic treatment. The employee contends that the Board exceeded its authority in excluding the treatment of her choice and that the award must be modified to include chiropractic treatment pursuant to the provisions of Labor Code section 4600.1 We agree and direct the Board to modify the award accordingly.

Background

The employer, State of California, Department of Corrections (Department), and Deborah Faith Derrick, a correctional officer with the Department (applicant or employee), stipulated that the head and back injuries suffered by applicant in an automobile accident in May 1980 were in the course of her employment and that she lost no compensable time as a result of her injuries.

After initial emergency hospital care, applicant was treated by several physicians, including one who referred her to Theodore Gray, D.C., in February 1981 for chiropractic treatment. Dr. Gray continued his treatment of applicant until her transfer to a new location where she began self-procured chiropractic treatment with Stanley H. Jones, D.C., in May 1981. Dr. Jones submitted his first report to the Department in May 1981 and regularly submitted reports thereafter through March 1982. The Department paid Dr. Jones for applicant’s treatment for a period in 1981 before terminating payments. Applicant’s treatment with Dr. Jones continued, however, and an unpaid bill of $536.70 had accrued by April 1982, when she filed [453]an application with the Board to determine liability for future medical treatment as well as for the unpaid balance for previous self-procured treatment.

The parties agreed at the hearing in November 1982 before the workers’ compensation judge that the issues were: the nature and extent of applicant’s disability, apportionment, need for further medical treatment, self-procured medical treatment, and the lien claim of Dr. Jones. The Department withdrew the issue of the lien and self-procured treatment and agreed, before decision, to satisfy the lien of Dr. Jones.

The workers’ compensation judge considered applicant’s testimony and the medical files of each party, including the reports of two chiropractors, one engaged as an expert by the Department and the other by applicant, each of whom recommended that applicant continue her chiropractic treatment, up to twice per month, for one year or more, to cure or relieve her back problem. The judge also considered the report of the Department’s expert, Robert W. Selle, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon, who stated that “with the immediate cessation of chiropractic manipulation and establishment of a supervised strengthening and posture program for the upper back and cervical area, . . . one might anticipate a permanent and stationary status in another three months.”