COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Baker, Elder and Bumgardner 

NANCY POROK 

 MEMORANDUM OPINION*

v. Record No. 2946-97-2 PER CURIAM 

 MAY 19, 1998 

RICHMOND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL/ 

 HEALTH CORPORATION OF VIRGINIA 

 FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 (Jeffrey R. Allen; Thorsen, Marchant & Scher, 

L.L.P., on briefs), for appellant. 

 (Linda M. Ziegler; Crews & Hancock, PLC, on 

brief), for appellee. 

 Nancy Porok (claimant) contends that the Workers' 

Compensation Commission (commission) erred in finding that she 

failed to prove she sustained an injury by accident arising out 

of and in the course of her employment on July 5, 1996. With 

respect to this issue, claimant raises numerous questions 

presented, including whether the commission (1) improperly 

considered medical histories in determining whether an accident 

occurred, (2) failed to give appropriate weight to claimant's 

testimony, and (3) erred in relying upon the testimony of 

claimant's co-worker, Gloria Kenney. Upon reviewing the record 

and the briefs of the parties, we conclude that this appeal is 

without merit. Accordingly, we summarily affirm the commission's 

decision. See Rule 5A:27. 

 

 *Pursuant to Code § 17-116.010 this opinion is not 

designated for publication. 
 2 

 On appeal, we view the evidence in the light most favorable 

to the prevailing party below. See R.G. Moore Bldg. Corp. v. 

Mullins, 10 Va. App. 211, 212, 390 S.E.2d 788, 788 (1990). "In 

order to carry [the] burden of proving an 'injury by accident,' a 

claimant must prove that the cause of [the] injury was an 

identifiable incident or sudden precipitating event and that it 

resulted in an obvious sudden mechanical or structural change in 

the body." Morris v. Morris, 238 Va. 578, 589, 385 S.E.2d 858, 

865 (1989). Unless we can say as a matter of law that claimant's 

evidence sustained her burden of proof, the commission's findings 

are binding and conclusive upon us. See Tomko v. Michael's 

Plastering Co., 210 Va. 697, 699, 173 S.E.2d 833, 835 (1970). 

 The commission ruled that claimant failed to meet her burden 

of proving a compensable injury by accident. As the basis for 

its decision, the commission made the following factual findings: 

 Although the claimant testified that she 

felt pain in her right leg at the time she 

was pulling on a gurney, the medical record 

and other testimony does not support this 

version of events. The history actually 

prepared by her is inconsistent with an 

injury by accident. Dr. [Edward B.] Beirne, 

[Jr.,] who treated the claimant on the same 

day of her alleged injury, noted that she had 

experienced leg discomfort for four or five 

days. Dr. [Douglas A.] Wayne, who treated 

her four days after the alleged injury, 

stated that she had suffered increasing back 

pain for one and one-half weeks. He further 

noted that the claimant's symptoms had 

developed over many episodes of lifting and 

maneuvering patients. In sum, the recorded 

medical histories do not support the finding 

of a compensable injury by accident. It is 

significant that the medical histories in 

this case, some of which were in the 
 3 

claimant's own handwriting, were being 

presented by a nurse and not someone 

unfamiliar with the importance of an accurate 

medical history. A co-worker, [Kenney,] whom 

[claimant] allegedly told of the injury, 

testified that she did not observe [claimant] 

limping or having difficulty walking. 

[Kenney] further recalled complaints of back 

pain of a one-week duration. 

(Footnote omitted). 

 The commission's findings are amply supported by the medical 

records and Kenney's testimony. As fact finder, the commission 

was entitled to weigh all the evidence and to reject claimant's 

testimony and accept Kenney's testimony. It is well settled that 

credibility determinations are within the fact finder's exclusive 

purview. See Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Pierce, 5 Va. App. 

374, 381, 363 S.E.2d 433, 437 (1987). Moreover, the commission 

did not err in considering the medical histories in determining 

whether an accident occurred. See Pence Nissan Oldsmobile v. 

Oliver, 20 Va. App. 314, 319, 456 S.E.2d 541, 544 (1995); 

McMurphy Coal Co. v. Miller, 20 Va. App. 57, 59, 455 S.E.2d 265, 

266 (1995); see also Rule 2.2, Rules of the Virginia Workers' 

Compensation Commission.1

 

 1Claimant's contention that the commission erred in failing 

to take into account the HealthSouth physical therapy notes and 

claimant's recorded statement in rendering its decision is 

without merit. These documents were before the commission and 

nothing in the record indicates that the commission did not 

consider them. The fact that the commission did not specifically 

discuss these documents in its opinion is of no consequence. The 

commission was entitled to weigh the evidence in its entirety and 

to give that evidence the probative weight it deemed appropriate. 

 
 4 

 In light of Kenney's testimony and the obvious 

inconsistencies between the medical histories and claimant's 

testimony, we cannot say as a matter of law that claimant's 

evidence sustained her burden of proving a compensable injury by 

accident. 

 Accordingly, we affirm the commission's decision. 

 Affirmed.