Case Name: Gladis HERNANDEZ, Appellant, v. WAL-MART ASSOCIATES, INC., Appellee
Court: Arkansas Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Arkansas
Decision Date: 2009-07-01
Citations: 337 S.W.3d 531
Docket Number: No. CA 08-961
Parties: Gladis HERNANDEZ, Appellant, v. WAL-MART ASSOCIATES, INC., Appellee.
Judges: VAUGHT, C.J., and GLADWIN, J., agree.
Reporter: South Western Reporter Third Series
Volume: 337
Pages: 531–542

Head Matter:
2009 Ark. App. 531
Gladis HERNANDEZ, Appellant, v. WAL-MART ASSOCIATES, INC., Appellee.
No. CA 08-961.
Court of Appeals of Arkansas.
July 1, 2009.
Sterling Law Firm, P.A., by: Brent Sterling, Fayetteville, for appellant.
The Bassett Law Firm, by: Dale W. Brown, Fayetteville, for appellee.

Opinion:
RITA GRUBER, Judge.
Gladis Hernandez appeals the denial of her workers' compensation claim for bene fits related to her compensable back injury, which she sustained while working for appellee Wal-Mart and scanning heavy boxes of books on August 11, 2005. The Workers' Compensation Commission found that the compensable injury resolved no later than November 1, 2005. The Commission further found that Hernandez had not proven 1) entitlement to temporary total disability benefits from February 8, 2006, to an undetermined date; or 2) that medical treatment by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Cyril Raben, including tests and surgical procedures, was reasonable and necessary. Hernandez asserts that the Commission arbitrarily disregarded Dr. Raben's testimony in finding that she sustained only a lumbar strain rather than a herniated disc as a result of her compensable injury, and therefore also erred in denying ^additional medical benefits, temporary total disability benefits, and attorney's fees. She therefore contends that substantial evidence does not support the denial of additional medical benefits and temporary total disability. We disagree and affirm.
Substantial evidence exists only if reasonable minds could have reached the same conclusion without resort to speculation or conjecture. White Consol. Indus. v. Galloway, 74 Ark.App. 13, 45 S.W.3d 396 (2001). Where the denial of a claim is based upon the claimant's failure to meet her burden of proving entitlement to benefits, the substantial-evidence standard of review requires that we affirm if the Commission's decision displays a substantial basis for the denial of relief. Frances v. Gaylord Container Corp., 341 Ark. 527, 20 S.W.3d 280 (2000); Williams v. Arkansas Oak Flooring Co., 267 Ark. 810, 590 S.W.2d 328 (Ark.App.1979). We will not reverse the Commission's decision unless we are convinced that fair-minded persons with the same facts before them could not have reached the conclusions arrived at by the Commission. Cedar Chem. Co. v. Knight, 99 Ark.App. 162, 258 S.W.3d 394 (2007).
It is within the Commission's province to reconcile conflicting evidence, including the medical evidence, and to determine the true facts. Stone v. Dollar Gen. Stores, 91 Ark.App. 260, 209 S.W.3d 445 (2005). Although it is within the province of the Commission to weigh conflicting medical evidence, the Commission may not arbitrarily disregard medical evidence or the testimony of any witness. Roberts v. Whirlpool, 102 Ark.App. 284, 284 S.W.3d 100 (2008). But when the Commission chooses to accept the testimony of one physician over that of another, the appellate court is powerless to reverse the decision. See Ark. Wood Products v. Atchley, 21 Ark.App. 138, 729 S.W.2d 428 (1987) (rejecting an argument that the opinions of three orthopedic specialists should be given greater consideration than that of the family physician, and explaining that the matter involved the weight and probative force of the evidence rather than its sub-stantiality).
Hernandez relies upon Dr. Raben's opinion that her compensable injury caused her lumbar disc herniation and associated treatment. This differed from the opinion of Dr. Gary Moffitt, Wal-Mart's company doctor and a general practitioner. Dr. Moffitt stated that Hernandez's complaints of left-side pain after her compensable injury did not correlate with an MRI performed on September 1, 2005, which disclosed a herniated disc at the same level on the right side. Dr. Moffitt opined that the herniation was unrelated to her com-pensable injury, which he diagnosed as a muscular strain. On January 13, 2006, Dr. Moffitt saw Hernandez and reported that her symptoms and complaints of pain were "consistent with an L5-S1 radiculopathy on the right.... She may continue to work without restrictions."
In making its findings, the Commission found that Dr. Raben's opinion was entitled to minimal weight. The Commission noted that Dr. Konstantin V. Berestnev saw Hernandez on August 15, 2005, ahd assessed a lumbar strain, as had Dr. Mof-fitt. It pointed to a report by Dr. Moffitt that the injury had largely resolved by November 1, 2005. The Commission |,, no ted that orthopedic surgeon Dr. Robert Tomlinson did not "opine that the L5-S1 disc protrusion was the result of an accidental injury," that neuro-surgeon Dr. Kelly Danks did not opine that the "degenerative bulging was the result of an acute injury," and that Dr. Danks did not causally connect his recommendation for epidural injections to Hernandez's compensable injury. The Commission observed, "None of the claimant's treating physicians, other than Dr. Raben, opined that the claimant had sustained a herniated disc as a result of her lumbar strain."
It was up to the Commission, as the finder of fact, to resolve conflicting medical opinions and evidence regarding the causation of Hernandez's disc herniation. The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the Commission's findings, is such that reasonable minds could have reached the conclusion of the Commission without resort to speculation or conjecture. See White Consol. Indus. v. Galloway, 74 Ark.App. 13, 45 S.W.3d 396 (2001). We hold that the Commission did not arbitrarily disregard Dr. Raben's opinion and that the Commission's decision, based upon Dr. Moffitt's opinion that Hernandez's injury did not result in her herniated disc, displays a substantial basis for the denial of relief. See Williams, supra.
Affirmed.
VAUGHT, C.J., and GLADWIN, J., agree.
PITTMAN, J., concurs.
ROBBINS and BAKER, JJ., dissent.