The Commission determined that claimant’s
preexisting nerve root tumor on his back was aggravated when the
construction vehicle he was operating hit a large hole. As a result of
this aggravation, claimant required surgery to remove the tumor.
Claimant, a shuttle car operator, testified
that on April 18, 1992, he was operating a vehicle similar to a dump
truck when he hit a large hole and felt pain in his low back. He was
diagnosed with a lumbar strain. On May 2, 1997, claimant’s doctor
recorded that the results of an MRI revealed a soft tissue nodule in
claimant’s back. He recommended that claimant remain off work and
referred him to a second doctor. The second doctor saw claimant on one
occasion and opined that he did not think the tumor noted in the
diagnostic tests was related to the incident at work. Claimant then saw
a neurosurgeon, who performed surgery to remove the benign spinal tumor.
The neurosurgeon did not believe that the traumatic event at work caused
the neurofibroma but opined that the trauma caused the neurofibroma to
move.
The surgeon concluded that the tumor was
irritated or aggravated by the work accident. Defendant’s expert opined
that the tumor was not caused by the work trauma and that the surgery to
remove the tumor was not necessitated by the trauma.
The arbitrator found that claimant sustained
a work-related lumbar strain arising out of his employment, but that the
spinal nerve root tumor was not aggravated or caused by the accident.
The Commission modified the decision of the
arbitrator to find that as a result of the work accident, claimant
sustained both a lumbar strain and an aggravation of the preexisting
nerve root tumor or neurofibroma, and that these conditions, as well as
the subsequent need for surgery to remove the tumor, were causally
related to the work accident. The Commission based this finding on the
chain of events-particularly the evidence of an asymptomatic tumor prior
to the accident, followed by complaints of back and leg pain
thereafter-as well as the opinion of the treating neurosurgeon to the
effect that claimant sustained an irritation or aggravation of the
neurofibroma he eventually removed.
