Opinion ID: 1860508
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Whether the claimant failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence any causal relation between her employment and any alleged psychological or psychiatric disability and whether the Workers' Compensation Commission had substantial evidence to deny benefits.

Text: On November 14, 1989, the Workers' Compensation Commission entered an order finding that claimant's psychiatric condition did not result from the November 7, 1986, meeting with the Nursing Home Administrator, Ms. Barbara Pepper, and that claimant failed to prove that she sustained an accidental injury as contemplated by Miss. Code Ann. § 71-3-3(b) (Supp. 1987). Further, the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission found that claimant's disability was not due to any injury arising out of and in the course of her employment with the Countrybrook Living Center, but was attributable to a psychoneurotic condition or emotional disturbance due to causes other than her employment by the Countrybrook Living Center. A mental injury, unaccompanied by physical trauma, must be shown to have been caused by something more than the ordinary incidents of employment. Fought v. Stuart C. Irby Co., 523 So.2d 314 (Miss. 1988); Brown & Root Const. Co. v. Duckworth, 475 So.2d 813 (Miss. 1985); Smith and Sanders, Inc. v. Peery, 473 So.2d 423 (Miss. 1985); V. Dunn, Mississippi Workmen's Compensation Commission, § 114 (Supp. 1990). On November 7, 1986, all nurses were required to attend the in-service meeting and each nurse, including claimant, was questioned by Ms. Pepper on an individual basis. The personal interview with nurses followed after the general meeting of all nursing personnel. The Commission found that this type management policy is reasonable, necessary and accepted for a public health facility to exercise in light of the difficulty experienced at Countrybrook Living Center. Management had the right, as well as the responsibility and duty, to investigate and discuss with nursing personnel the serious incidents of removal of nasogastric tubes and gastrostomy tubes from patients, wrongful mixing of medication cards, as well as the sabotage of medication buggies. In Fought v. Stuart C. Irby, Co., 523 So.2d 314 (Miss. 1988), Fought sought benefits for disability resulting from mental or psychological injury when she was reprimanded at work after being called into the supervisor's office and told that the supervisor was not satisfied with her work initiative. She was also told that her absences were a problem. Fought claimed that she suffered a severe psychological reaction to this criticism. She described meetings with her supervisor as an attempt to intimidate her and contended that it was harassment to force her to resign. This Court held that, when a claimant seeks compensation benefits for disability resulting from a mental or psychological injury, the claimant has the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence the connection between the employment and the injury and that the mental injury must have been caused by something more than the ordinary incidents of employment. Id. at 317. The Court stated that, harassments or stresses to which [the claimant] was subjected may reasonably have been regarded [as] nothing more than the ordinary incidents of employment, and not untoward events or unusual occurrences. Id. at 318. Benefits were denied. In the case at bar, Dr. Robert Ritter indicated claimant had a 10-12 year history of personality disorders and that the cause of her illness was biochemical rather than work-related. Dr. Timothy Summers found claimant to have suffered psychological disorders for two years prior to November 7, 1987, and he released claimant to return to work without any restrictions. Dr. Alan Hearne, a clinical psychologist, although thinking claimant's illness was work-related, released her to return to work with the recommendation of a shift change which the employer granted. Dr. Maude Wright diagnosed claimant as having severe posttraumatic stress disorder and major depression with some psychotic symptoms. The Commission found that Dr. Wright's examination of claimant was performed on November 14, 1988, two years from the date of the nursing home confrontation and further found that Dr. Wright's testimony was unconvincing when compared to other medical experts who had examined and treated claimant. We are of the opinion that claimant failed to show by clear and convincing evidence that her mental condition was causally connected to her employment; that the event occurring on November 7, 1986, was not an untoward event; and that the finding and order of the Workers' Compensation Commission is supported by substantial evidence. Therefore, the judgment of the lower court is affirmed. AFFIRMED. HAWKINS and DAN M. LEE, P.JJ., and PRATHER and PITTMAN, JJ., concur. McRAE, J., dissents by separate written opinion joined by ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN and BANKS, JJ.