COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA 

Present: Chief Judge Felton, Judges Humphreys and Beales 

HOSPIRA WORLDWIDE, INC. AND 

 XL SPECIALTY INSURANCE COMPANY 

 MEMORANDUM OPINION*

 

v. Record No. 0932-08-2 PER CURIAM 

 AUGUST 19, 2008 

CHRISTINE SCHANNE COOK 

 FROM THE VIRGINIA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COMMISSION 

 (Joseph F. Giordano; Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, on brief), for 

appellants. 

 (Stephen T. Harper; Kerns, Kastenbaum & Reinhardt, on brief), for 

appellee. 

 Hospira Worldwide, Inc. and its insurer (hereinafter referred to as “employer”) appeal a 

decision of the Workers’ Compensation Commission awarding medical benefits to Christine 

Schanne Cook (claimant), and finding she proved that she sustained (1) an injury by accident 

arising out of and in the course of her employment on April 19, 2005, and (2) a back injury 

causally related to that accident.1

 We have reviewed the record and the commission’s opinion 

 *

 Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opinion is not designated for publication. 

1

 Employer’s Question Presented 2 is whether the commission erred in finding that 

claimant’s lower back symptoms and medical treatment after March 15, 2006, were causally 

related to a specific incident on April 19, 2005. Claimant contends employer failed to raise this 

specific question before the commission and, therefore, the commission did not specifically 

address it, and this Court cannot consider it on appeal. 

With respect to the causation issue, the deputy commissioner found that notwithstanding 

Dr. Howard G. Stern’s IME opinion that claimant’s complaints were not causally related to the 

April 19, 2005 incident, there was sufficient evidence to establish that claimant’s sciatica and 

lumbar strain are related to the compensable accident, based upon the reports from Dr. E. 

Claiborne Irby, Jr., claimant’s treating physician. The deputy commissioner then concluded, 

“[w]e do rely upon Dr. Stern’s opinion to find that there is insufficient evidence to establish that 

the claimant’s degenerative disc disease and her ‘degenerative appearing central disc 
- 2 - 

and find that this appeal is without merit. Accordingly, we affirm for the reasons stated by the 

commission in its final opinion. See Cook v. Hospira Worldwide, Inc., VWC File No. 

230-40-52 (Mar. 12, 2008). We dispense with oral argument and summarily affirm because the 

facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the Court and 

argument would not aid the decisional process. See Code § 17.1-403; Rule 5A:27. 

Affirmed.

 

bulge-protrusion at L5-S1’ are not [sic] causally related to the compensable accident.” The 

deputy commissioner awarded medical benefits to claimant, specifically finding her muscular 

low back pain and sciatica necessitated physical therapy and a referral to Dr. Daniel Martin, 

treatment in Illinois, and Dr. Irby’s referrals to physical therapy and his prescriptions for 

medication. 

Employer appealed that decision to the full commission. In its written statement filed on 

review, employer raised two questions: Whether the deputy commissioner erred in finding that 

(1) the claimant sustained a compensable injury by accident to her lower back arising out of and 

in the course of her employment on April 19, 2005; and (2) her lower back symptoms were 

causally related to a specific incident on April 19, 2005. In that written statement, with respect 

to the second question, employer argued that claimant failed to prove a causal relationship 

between her lower back symptoms and her work accident, in light of her pre-existing 

degenerative disease and lower back pain. Thus, employer contended that claimant failed to 

prove the April 19, 2005 incident materially aggravated her pre-existing symptoms resulting in 

any new or increased low back pain. Employer did not specifically limit its causation argument 

to apply only to the period after March 15, 2006, until it filed its notice of appeal to this Court. 

Thus, the commission did not specifically address that issue. However, in light of the deputy 

commissioner’s findings regarding causation, which were affirmed by the commission, the 

commission’s consideration of employer’s written statement, which contained its general 

causation argument, and the commission’s findings that claimant’s “treating physicians related 

her back pain to lifting boxes on April 19, 2005,” while discounting Dr. Stern’s opinion that 

there was no causal connection between claimant’s MRI findings and her employment, we 

conclude that those findings apply to the period after March 15, 2006, and because they are 

supported by credible evidence, we find no merit in Question Presented 2.