JERRY TAYLOR, APPELLANT,
v.
INTERNATIONAL PAPER CO. AND DIVISION OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION, APPELLEES
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In this workers' compensation appeal, Jerry Taylor sought review of a deputy commissioner's decision limiting his permanent partial disability claim to scheduled benefits under Florida's workers' compensation statute following a 1977 workplace accident. The court affirmed the decision, holding that Taylor's thrombophlebitis confined to his leg constituted a scheduled injury under § 440.15(3)(b), not a whole-body disability.
The court held that thrombophlebitis confined to Taylor's leg is a scheduled injury under Florida law, and the deputy commissioner properly rejected the theory that the condition affected his entire body based on lack of supporting evidence. The court found no evidence that the effects of Taylor's injury extended beyond his leg, and the deputy was not compelled as a matter of law to accept medical testimony rating vascular disease affecting only the leg as a total body impairment.
[1] Thrombophlebitis confined to a claimant's leg is a scheduled injury for workers' compensation purposes in Florida.
[2] A workers' compensation claimant seeking benefits for disability to the body as a whole must present evidence that the effects of the injury extend beyond a specific sche…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Thrombo-phlebitis confined to the Claimant's leg is a scheduled injury in Florida.”
Establishes the legal classification of the condition and supports affirmance of the scheduled disability determination.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTaylor sustained a workplace injury in 1977 and reached maximum medical improvement on June 13, 1979, with a 30% permanent partial impairment to his r…
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WENTWORTH, Judge.
Claimant seeks review of a workers’ compensation order which, based on a 1977 accident, limits his claim for permanent partial disability to the schedule set forth in § 440.15(3)(b), Florida Statutes. We affirm.
Claimant contends that the deputy commissioner erred in finding that claimant sustained a scheduled disability rather than a disability to the body as a whole, as follows:
According to Dr. McArthur, the Claimant reached maximum medical improvement on June 13, 1979, and has a 30% permanent partial impairment to his right lower extremity. . . . The impairment rating given by Dr. McArthur did not take into consideration any impairment caused by his chronic phlebitis. . . . Dr. Syfrett treated the Claimant in conjunction with Dr. McArthur for his thrombo-phlebi-tis... . After consulting the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Dr. Sy-frett thought his impairment was 25% of the whole man. While the problem is confined to the veins in the Claimant’s leg at the present, there is always a chance in such cases that a clot will break loose and cause a pulmonary embolization. The Employer in this case has agreed to pay thé Claimant permanent partial disability equal to 30% of his lower right extremity. F.S. 440.15(3)(b).
The Claimant seeks benefits under 440.-15(3)(u) on the theory that his thrombophlebitis is a disease of his circulatory system and, by definition affects his entire body.... [Tjhere is no evidence supporting his contention that the effects of his injury extend beyond his leg. Throm-bo-phlebitis confined to the Claimant’s leg is a scheduled injury in Florida. Wholesale Tours International v. Courtney, I.R.C. Order 2-3126 (1977) and Gray Drugstores, Inc. v. Herring, 9 F.C.R. 85 (1975).
If the Claimant’s thrombo-phlebi-tis does affect other parts of his body in the future, his remedy is to seek modification under F.S. 440.28.... [T]he claim for permanent partial disability based on the loss of wage earning capacity is denied because compensation for his disability is limited to 30% of his lower right extremity which has been, or is being, timely paid by the Employer in accordance with F.S. 440.15(3)(b).
We find no error in the deputy’s view of the evidence showing impairment confined to claimant’s leg. Nor was he compelled as a matter of law to accept the medical testimony rating vascular disease, affecting only claimant’s leg, as a total body impairment under American Medical Association Guides standards. Cf., § 440.15(3)(a).
Claimant further argues that the deputy commissioner erred in failing to ele vate the degree of scheduled impairment above the medical rating for orthopedic purposes, inasmuch as claimant suffers from both an orthopedic, injury and thrombophlebitis. The record indicates that issue was not before the deputy commissioner for consideration since claimant sought only compensation for earning capacity loss or disability of the body as a whole. Our affirmance is of course without prejudice to a claim other than that determined by the order appealed.
BOOTH and SHAW, JJ., concur.
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S & S Stove Repair, Inc. v. Dumas, 465 So. 2d 644 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985)…injury. Subsequent cases have adhered to this decision, rejecting departures from the schedule only when there was no competent substantial evidence of any permanent injury to any unscheduled part of the body. See Taylor v. International Paper Co., 404 So. 2d 808 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981); Florida Rock Industries, Inc. v. Beach, 409 So. 2d 1160 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). In the instant case, Dr. Gilbert testified, and the deputy agreed, that the injury to claimant involving the intertrochanteric fracture permanently aff…