Title: Graham v. City of Kosciusko
Citation: 339 So. 2d 60
Docket Number: 48848
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: November 16, 1976

339 So. 2d 60 (1976) Ernest M. GRAHAM v. The CITY OF KOSCIUSKO, Mississippi, and United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company. No. 48848. Supreme Court of Mississippi. November 16, 1976. Crawley &amp; Ford, David E. Crawley, Jr., William R. Ford, Kosciusko, for appellant. Brooks &amp; Guyton, William D. Brooks, John D. Guyton, Kosciusko, for appellee. Before GILLESPIE, C.J., and ROBERTSON and LEE, JJ. *61 ROBERTSON, Justice, for the Court: This is a workmen's compensation case. The question presented for decision is one of first impression in Mississippi. The claimant and appellant, Ernest M. Graham, appeals from the order of the Circuit Court of Attala County reversing an order of the Workmen's Compensation Commission which approved an award of $60,347.15 to Mary M. Graham, his wife, for nursing services rendered in the home from July 8, 1964 through December 18, 1973. The circuit court found that no notice of the necessity for nursing services and no request for such services were given to the employer, City of Kosciusko, or the carrier, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, until February 23, 1972, and that payment for such nursing services should not begin until February 23, 1972. The court further found that the overwhelming weight of the evidence was that only four hours nursing services per day were needed by the claimant, and that claimant's wife was entitled to payment for four hours nursing services per day at $2.25 per hour for each day from and after February 23, 1972, less a period of sixteen days when claimant was hospitalized. On July 8, 1964, claimant suffered an industrial accident while working as an electrical lineman for the city of Kosciusko. He was left a paraplegic, paralyzed from the waist down. The first request for nursing services was made by letter, dated February 23, 1972, from Crawley and Ford, claimant's attorneys, to United States Fidelity &amp; Guaranty Company, Greenwood, Mississippi. That letter stated: On June 19, 1972, Graham filed his first petition to be furnished nursing services. In his petition claimant stated that the carrier had paid him the workmen's compensation benefits to which he was entitled and that the carrier was paying his doctors' and drug expenses in accordance with the workmen's compensation act. Claimant then stated in his petition: Claimant closed his petition with the prayer that the carrier: The petition uses only the present and future tenses; nowhere does it request payment for past nursing services or for services prior to February 23, 1972. The first hearing was on August 7, 1972, and at this and all subsequent hearings the testimony adduced was as to present and future nursing needs. On January 30, 1973, the attorney-referee rendered his opinion. He found that the employer and carrier should pay to claimant's wife: Upon review by the full Commission, the Commission by a two-to-one vote affirmed the order of the attorney-referee, but remanded the cause to the attorney-referee: Following this Order of the two Commissioners is this statement of J.T. Hill, Chairman of the Commission: Upon remand to the attorney-referee, the claimant moved to file an amended petition to pray for nursing services from and after July 8, 1964, and the employer and carrier renewed their Motion for Leave to Amend their Pleadings. The attorney-referee was of the opinion that he was limited in the remand order of the Commission to receiving testimony only on the number of hours per day required for nursing services since July 8, 1964, and the hourly rate of pay for a licensed practical nurse since July 8, 1964. He, therefore, overruled both the claimant's and the employer's and carrier's motions to amend their pleadings, and limited testimony to the number of hours of nursing services rendered in the home and the rate of pay for licensed practical nurses. On March 8, 1974, the attorney-referee entered his Order finding that Mrs. Ernest M. Graham, wife of claimant, was entitled to a total of $60,347.15 for nursing services performed by her in the home for the period commencing July 8, 1964 and ending December 18, 1973, broken down as follows: In spite of the fact that the claimant only prayed for $392.87 per month for Mrs. Graham, beginning February 23, 1972, the attorney-referee found that Mrs. Graham was entitled to these amounts: On July 8, 1974, the Commission, by a two-to-one vote, affirmed the attorney-referee's supplemental order of March 8, 1974, Chairman Hill again voting to affirm the payment for nursing services subsequent to February 24, 1972, but voting to reverse the order of the attorney-referee for the payment of nursing services rendered prior to February 24, 1972. Dr. Charles L. Neill, neurosurgeon and claimant's principal doctor, testified on cross-examination that four hours a day would be sufficient to take care of Graham's nursing needs, if there were "somebody to cook his meals and feed him and that sort of thing." Dr. S.L. Bailey, general practitioner and claimant's family physician, testified that there should be someone available to answer his needs within a reasonably short period of time. *64 Dr. W.H. Merrell, a urologist of Jackson, Mississippi, testified that on September 12, 1972, he operated on the claimant and removed the obstruction in the bladder neck which mostly remedied his urological problem. Dr. Merrell testified that strictly from a urological standpoint, the claimant needed no nursing services after he returned home. The claimant and his wife both testified that Mrs. Graham had to give the claimant an enema every two or three days, which required at least an hour's work on her part each time. For a rather long period of time there was daily catherization and additional cleanup of the claimant and his bed. The Grahams had three children. Mrs. Graham had no domestic help and, by dent of working long hours every day, was able to look after the children, the home, and the special nursing needs of her husband. Her testimony and that of the claimant hopelessly intermingled his special nursing needs with her general household duties of preparing meals, washing clothes and cleaning the home. The question of paying a wife for special nursing services rendered her husband in the home is a matter of first impression in Mississippi. Larson makes this observation: Mississippi's statute on this subject [Mississippi Code Annotated section 71-3-15 (1972)], provides in part: It is undisputed that the claimant did not request his employer or carrier to furnish him nursing services in his home until February 23, 1972, and even then his request was couched in language that indicated that it was for present and future nursing needs. The only alternative to notice and request is outlined in this language of the statute: But all paraplegics do not require or need the same attention and treatment, nor do they need the same nursing services. One paraplegic might leave home, drive himself to work, work all day, and drive himself home, without a moment's trouble. Another might need almost constant attention and treatment. Each case must be considered on its own merits; there is no standard solution for every case regardless of the facts. The defendants were never heard on their defenses of no notice, no request, no doctor's prescription, nor on their defenses of the several statutes of limitation. When the claimant tried to file an amended petition to cover nursing services for the past eight years, and when the defendants tried to amend their answer to assert these defenses, the attorney-referee overruled their motions to amend, under the impression that the Commission on remand to him had limited the further hearing to the hours worked each day and the rate of pay per hour in the community. We are not able to decide these matters because they were not heard and litigated below. The record is lacking in testimony and evidence on these crucial issues. We have no difficulty in finding that the order of the circuit court providing that Mrs. Graham be paid $2.25 per hour for four hours nursing service a day from and after February 23, 1972, to March 26, 1975, less a period of 16 days during which claimant was hospitalized, should be affirmed. The overwhelming weight of the evidence supports this finding. However, we are of the opinion that the circuit court should be reversed and this cause remanded to the Workmen's Compensation Commission so that the claimant can file an amended petition to put in issue payment for nursing services rendered by his wife to him in the home from July 8, 1964, to February 23, 1972. The employer and carrier should be allowed to file an amended answer raising all defenses that they desire to make. A full hearing should be afforded both sides. Required nursing services should be separated from general household duties and work that a wife ordinarily performs in and about the home in looking after and caring for her husband and children. There should be testimony from doctors as to how many hours per day would be required for special nursing services for the claimant from July 8, 1964, to February 23, 1972. AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED. GILLESPIE, C.J., PATTERSON and INZER, P. JJ., and SMITH, SUGG, WALKER, BROOM and LEE, JJ., concur.