COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Judges Baker, Elder and Bumgardner 

MT. VERNON HOSPITAL AND INOVA 

 HEALTH SYSTEM FOUNDATION, INC. 

 MEMORANDUM OPINION*

v. Record No. 2651-97-4 PER CURIAM 

 APRIL 14, 1998 

BRENDA A. WHATMAN 

 FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 (Eric J. Berghold; McCandlish & Lillard, 

P.C., on brief), for appellants. 

 (James F. Green; Ashcraft & Gerel, on brief), 

for appellee. 

 Mt. Vernon Hospital and its insurer (jointly referred to 

herein as employer) contend that the Workers' Compensation 

Commission (commission) erred in holding employer responsible for 

benefits related to Brenda A. Whatman's (claimant) post-March 20, 

1997 left knee problems. Employer argues that the commission 

erred in finding that claimant proved that a non-compensable 

March 20, 1997 incident aggravated her underlying November 7, 

1996 compensable knee injury for which employer had been found 

liable. 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. 

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

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

 

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

designated for publication. 
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Mullins, 10 Va. App. 211, 212, 390 S.E.2d 788, 788 (1990). 

 On November 7, 1996, claimant sustained a compensable left 

knee injury while working for employer as an assistant lab 

technician and phlebotomist. Following this incident, claimant 

sought medical treatment from Dr. Stuart L. Davidson, an 

orthopedic surgeon. On January 14, 1997, Dr. Davidson noted that 

claimant "suffered a mishap because her knee buckled and gave 

way, twisting her left ankle."1 On January 20, 1997, Dr. 

Davidson noted that claimant's "knee is continuing to be 

problematic." On February 3, 1997, Dr. Davidson noted that 

claimant's "knee buckled and gave way on her requiring her to go 

to using a slide-on elastic knee brace." On February 17, 1997, 

Dr. Davidson noted that claimant was no longer wearing the brace, 

but that her knee was essentially unchanged. On March 3, 1997, 

Dr. Davidson reported that claimant's knee was not swollen, but 

she continued "to have feeling of tightness in the peripatellar 

area." He gave claimant a prescription for an exercise program. 

Dr. Davidson treated claimant again on March 17, 1997, noting 

popping in her knee and minimal swelling. On March 20, 1997, Dr. 

Davidson noted that claimant had "slipped on some wet ground and 

her knee buckled and gave way. She reached out with her left arm 

to try and stop her fall and suffered an injury to her left 

shoulder as well as exacerbation of her knee injury." 

 

 1Employer did not raise this incident as an intervening 

accident that would have insulated it from liability for 

continuing medical and disability benefits. 
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 Dr. Richard L. Gaertner, an orthopedic surgeon, performed 

an independent medical examination of claimant on March 27, 1997. 

 An April 7, 1997 MRI of claimant's left knee was within normal 

limits. On April 15, 1997, Dr. Gaertner opined that claimant's 

present left knee problems were not related to the injury she 

sustained on November 7, 1996. 

 In holding employer responsible for the effects of the March 

20, 1997 incident, the commission found as follows: 

 [T]here is no evidence that the claimant 

suffered any material mechanical or 

structural change in the body as a result of 

her fall on March 20, 1997. Rather, the MRI 

study ordered by orthopaedic surgeon Dr. 

Richard L. Gaertner . . . shows only the same 

osteoarthritic changes that preexisted even 

the work accident on November 7, 1996. Dr. 

Gaertner himself interpreted the study as 

"within normal limites." [sic] The March 

20, 1997 medical report of . . . Dr. 

. . . Davidson, which states that 

[claimant's] fall on that date was an 

"exacerbation of her knee injury," is 

uncontradicted and unchallenged, and 

constitutes sufficient evidence to support 

the Deputy Commissioner's finding. Moreover, 

Dr. Davidson's medical report, the only 

evidence presented to describe the 

"intervening accident," states that 

[claimant] fell on wet grass because "her 

knee buckled and gave way," which describes a 

compensable consequence of the work accident 

for which the employer must be liable. 

 "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 
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S.E.2d 858, 865 (1989) (citations omitted). 

 [A]ggravation of an old injury or a 

pre-existing condition is not, per se, 

tantamount to a "new injury." To be a "new 

injury" the incident giving rise to the 

aggravation must, in itself, satisfy each of 

the requirements for an "injury by accident 

arising out of . . . the employment." 

First Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. Gryder, 9 Va. App. 60, 63, 383 

S.E.2d 755, 757-58 (1989). "The Commission's finding of fact 

that [a subsequent] injury was not a new accident is binding on 

appeal if supported by credible evidence." Board of Supervisors 

v. Martin, 3 Va. App. 139, 142, 348 S.E.2d 540, 541 (1986). 

 Claimant's testimony, Dr. Davidson's medical records, and 

the April 7, 1997 MRI constitute credible evidence to support the 

commission's finding that claimant's post-March 20, 1997 left 

knee symptoms and disability resulted from an aggravation of her 

previously injured left knee rather than a sudden mechanical or 

structural change in her body. Thus, credible evidence supports 

the commission's finding that claimant's left knee problems 

resulted from a compensable aggravation of her November 7, 1996 

injury. "The fact that there is contrary evidence in the record 

is of no consequence if there is credible evidence to support the 

commission's finding." Wagner Enters., Inc. v. Brooks, 12 Va. 

App. 890, 894, 407 S.E.2d 32, 35 (1991). 

 Accordingly, we affirm the commission's decision. 

 Affirmed.