COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Bray, Annunziata and Overton 

PHILIP ALAN CARTWRIGHT 

 MEMORANDUM OPINION*

v. Record No. 2059-97-3 PER CURIAM 

 FEBRUARY 3, 1998 

THE CITY OF COVINGTON AND VIRGINIA 

 MUTUAL GROUP SELF INSURANCE PROGRAM 

 FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 (William A. Parks, Jr.; Parks & Vaught, on 

brief), for appellant. 

 (Richard D. Lucas; Carter, Brown & Osborne, 

on brief), for appellees. 

 Philip Alan Cartwright (claimant) contends that the Workers' 

Compensation Commission erred in finding that the medical 

treatment rendered to him by Dr. Preston A. Waldrop, an 

orthopedic surgeon, was not causally related to his compensable 

May 5, 1993 injury by accident. Upon reviewing the record and 

briefs of the parties, we conclude that this appeal is without 

merit. Accordingly, we summarily affirm the commission's 

decision. See Rule 5A:27. 

 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). 

Unless we can say as a matter of law that claimant's evidence 

sustained his burden of proof, the commission's findings are 

 

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

designated for publication. 
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binding and conclusive upon us. See Tomko v. Michael's 

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

 In ruling that claimant's evidence failed to sustain his 

burden of proof, the commission found as follows: 

 The medical record makes it clear that the 

claimant suffered from preexisting 

degenerative cervical disc disease and left 

shoulder bursitis. It is true that an 

employer takes an employee as it finds them 

and is responsible for accident-related 

aggravations of preexisting medical 

conditions. However, . . . [i]n this case, 

it is clear that the claimant will have 

intermittent "flare-ups" and aggravations of 

his preexisting conditions as a result of the 

general activities of his employment and 

other daily life activities. This does not 

make the employer responsible for every 

flare-up. 

 The claimant's preexisting left shoulder 

condition was aggravated by the compensable 

accident. He sought medical treatment for 

his left shoulder shortly after the alleged 

accident and this treatment continued. The 

claimant did not specifically seek medical 

treatment for his degenerative cervical disc 

disease until almost one year after the 

compensable accident, at which time he, 

himself, related it to the accident. The 

medical evidence does not adequately 

establish such a causal relationship between 

the compensable accident and the continuing 

medical treatment for the degenerative 

cervical disc disease. The medical records 

support the Deputy Commissioner's finding to 

the contrary. Dr. Waldrop, in his report of 

October 11, 1996, stated that he had been 

treating the claimant for the same problems 

since he initially saw him in March 1993, 

which was before the compensable accident. 

 The commission's findings are amply supported by Dr. 

Waldrop's medical records. Based upon Dr. Waldrop's medical 

records and the lack of any recorded complaints of neck symptoms 
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until one year after the compensable accident, we cannot find as 

a matter of law that claimant's evidence sustained his burden of 

proof. 

 Accordingly, we affirm the commission's decision. 

 Affirmed.