Opinion ID: 1784454
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: On October 15, 1985, the appellant, Helen Wade, was working the night shift as a cashier in a convenience store located in Black Rock. At about 4:00 a.m. the store was robbed, and one of the robbers struck the appellant on the left side of the face, momentarily knocking her unconscious. The police investigated the robbery, and she resumed her work. After her shift was finished a friend drove her to the emergency room of the hospital in nearby Walnut Ridge where a physician x-rayed her jaw. Later, a dentist, James Phillips, treated her for pain and inability to open her mouth. On October 21, he recommended she return to work. She was only able to work for two hours and returned to Dr. Phillips and complained of a loss of vision. He referred her to Dr. Joe Stainton, an ophthalmologist, but she was not happy with his treatment. Phillips then referred her to another ophthalmologist, Dr. Bobby McKee, of Jonesboro. The claimant worked from October 23, 1985, until November 10, 1985, when she was fired. There was testimony that her termination was the result of three cash shortages. The record also contains testimony of a store bookkeeper who stated that the claimant was one of several employees who had cash shortages, and at least one of her shortages could be explained as a bookkeeping error. The claimant then went to Dr. Steven Flannigan, Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Arkansas Medical School who, in turn, referred her to a neuro-ophthalmologist, Dr. Walter Jay. She told Dr. Jay that her visual acuity diminished immediately after she was struck by the robber. Dr. Jay initially could not make any objective findings, so he hospitalized her for tests. After thorough testing he found there was no objective etiology for her visual loss. It was his opinion that the visual loss was psychological and he referred her to Dr. Gary Souheaver, a clinical neuro-psychologist who administered a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and concluded that the most that could be said about her MMPI is that it would be associated with a high probability of alcohol or drug abuse, or both. Dr. Jay then referred the appellant to a psychoanalyst in Jonesboro, which was closer to her home. That psychoanalyst, Dr. Edwin Price, stated that the appellant did not relay a past history of blurred vision, or that she was refused unemployment benefits because of making a material misrepresentation on her application for unemployment. He attributed all of her emotional problems to the robbery and the blow to her face suffered on October 12, 1985. However, the record reflects that a Memphis ophthalmologist had seen the appellant on June 17, 1983, almost twenty-eight months before the October 1985 robbery. At that time she complained of headaches, pain around the left eye, and blurred vision in the left eye. In 1983 and 1984, he saw her seven times and hospitalized her twice for the same complaints. He also saw her after the robbery and was unable to connect any visual problem to her having been struck in the face during the robbery. In addition, he did not see any difference in her emotional state before and after the robbery. Appellee paid for appellant's medical treatment until March 1986, including her initial evaluation by Dr. Price, but refused to pay for further treatment, controverting appellant's claim for additional temporary total disability benefits and medical benefits. After two hearings, an Administrative Law Judge denied appellant's request for additional benefits. The Commission affirmed the Law Judge's decision. The Commission found that appellant had failed to prove a causal connection between the compensable injury received during the robbery and the disability and additional benefits appellant claimed after her employment was terminated. Although the Commission found that appellant was upset by the robbery, it found that her emotional reaction did not rise to the level of a psychiatric problem or the level of disability within the meaning of Ark.Code Ann. § 11-9-102(5) (1987) [formerly Ark.Stat. Ann. § 81-1302(e) (Repl.1986) ]. The claimant's five points of appeal can be reduced to three issues: (1) whether the Commission erred by not extending the benefit of doubt to the claimant on all factual determinations; (2) whether the Commission erred in finding that the claimant's pre-existing eye condition was not aggravated by the robbery; and (3) whether the Commission's decision denying additional benefits was supported by substantial evidence.