Case Name: BUTCH'S CONCRETE and South Carolina Insurance Co., Appellants, v. Prentice HENDERSON, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1982-06-04
Citations: 414 So. 2d 652
Docket Number: No. AB-323
Parties: BUTCH’S CONCRETE and South Carolina Insurance Co., Appellants, v. Prentice HENDERSON, Appellee.
Judges: MILLS, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 414
Pages: 652–655

Head Matter:
BUTCH’S CONCRETE and South Carolina Insurance Co., Appellants, v. Prentice HENDERSON, Appellee.
No. AB-323.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
June 4, 1982.
B. C. Pyle of Whittaker, Pyle, Stump & Webster, Orlando, for appellants.
Irvin A. Meyers of Meyers, Mooney & Adler, Orlando, for appellee.

Opinion:
THOMPSON, Judge.
The employer/carrier (E/C) appeal a workers' compensation order which admitted into evidence, over objection, unauthenticated medical reports and hospital records and which awarded a ehange of physician, wage-loss benefits, and vocational rehabilitation. We reverse the admission into evidence, over objection, of the unauthenticated medical reports and hospital records, and the award of wage-loss benefits and rehabilitation. We affirm the change of physician.
As to rehabilitative benefits, § 440.-49(1), Florida Statutes (1979), provides that:
If such services are not voluntarily offered or accepted, the Division of Workers' Compensation of the Department of Labor and Employment Security, upon application of the employee, employer or carrier, after affording the parties an opportunity to be heard, may refer the employee . [for a rehabilitative report]. On receipt of such report, and after affording the parties an opportunity to be heard, the deputy commissioner may order . [rehabilitative treatment], (emphasis supplied)
In the present case it appears that claimant has not applied to the Division of Workers' Compensation for such rehabilitative services, nor did claimant request that the deputy award such services, and neither party to this appeal was advised or on notice that such benefits might be awarded by the deputy commissioner. Section 449.49(1) expressly requires "an opportunity to be heard" on this issue, and the award of rehabilitative services in the proceeding below was contrary to the statutory requirement. Claimant may reapply for such benefits by complying with the provisions of § 440.-49(1).
Before wage loss benefits can be awarded, the claimant must establish the existence of some degree of permanent impairment. Prior to the amendment of the workers' compensation law in 1979, the deputy commissioner (the deputy) had a fairly wide latitude to find permanent disability or impairment based solely on the lay testimony of the claimant, on his own observations of the claimant, or on both. In 1979, in amending the law relating to permanent impairment and wage-loss benefits, the legislature clearly set out the purpose of the amendments. Section 440.15(3)(a)3., Fla. Stat. (1979) states:
In order to reduce litigation and establish more certainty and uniformity in the rating of permanent impairment, the division shall establish and use a schedule for determining the existence and degree of permanent impairment based upon medically or scientifically demonstrable findings. The schedule shall be based on generally accepted medical standards for determining impairment and may incorporate all or part of any one or more generally accepted schedules used for such purpose, such as the American Medical Association's Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. On August 1, 1979, and pending the adoption, by rule, of a permanent schedule, Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, copyright 1977, 1971 by the American Medical Association, shall be the temporary schedule and shall be used for the purposes hereon, (emphasis supplied)
In respect to wage-loss benefits § 440.-15(3)(b)l., Fla.Stat. (1979) provides that each injured worker who suffers any permanent impairment determined pursuant to the schedule, may be entitled to wage-loss benefits. Although any permanent impairment is sufficient to be a basis for a wage-loss claim, not only the degree of impairment but the existence of any impairment must be "based upon medically or scientifically demonstrable findings." § 440.-15(3)(a)3., Fla.Stat. (1979). Obviously even this amendment does not require that a medical doctor testify to a permanent disability in every instance. A claimant who has lost an arm as a result of an industrial accident has clearly suffered a demonstrable permanent impairment that a deputy can determine by his own observation of the claimant. By the same token, if the claimant cannot demonstrate some actual impairment that can be observed by the deputy, then lay testimony or observation by the deputy, standing alone, is not sufficient to establish any permanent impairment if the purpose in the language in the 1979 amendment is to be given any force and effect. Since there is no permanent impairment based upon medical or scientifically demonstrable findings in the record in this ease, we reverse the award of wage-loss benefits.
We also reverse the admission into evidence of Dr. Montes' medical report. The medical reports are hearsay and should not be admitted over objection in the absence of a stipulation as to their admissibility. The deputy in his order found that to require the claimant to take the deposition of Dr. Montes would violate the spirit of the current workers' compensation law which is intended to provide maximum benefits to the claimant with minimum costs. The claimant has some burden to prove his case and the cost of the deposition of a doctor is not a sufficient excuse for not taking it, particularly since that cost is paid by the E/C, not the claimant, if the claim is com-pensable.
MILLS, J., concurs.
WENTWORTH, J., dissenting and concurring in part.