Court Opinion

ID: 9533935
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:35:42.233211+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:13.542373
License: Public Domain

Prager, J.,
dissenting: I respectfully dissent. The majority have properly held that there is substantial competent evidence to support the trial court’s finding that the claimant sustained an accident which resulted in physical injury arising out of and in the course of her employment. The evidence in the case discloses that the claimant has suffered pain in her back and knee with reoccurring dizziness which at this time prevent her from returning to gainful employment. It is also clear from the evidence that a substantial *830portion o£ her disability is the result of a traumatic neurosis which the trial court found was directly caused by and was the result of the accident and injuries sustained by the claimant. Syllabus ¶ 5 recognizes that traumatic neurosis, following physical injury and shown to be directly traceable to the injury, is compensable under the Workmen’s Compensation Act. I do not agree with the conclusion of the majority that there is no substantial competent evidence to support the finding of the trial court that there is a direct causal connection between the claimant’s accidental injury and her present disability including her traumatic neurosis. The medical experts agreed that prior to her injury the claimant was suffering from emotional problems which had a significant impact upon the nature and extent of her present disability resulting from the accident. There is substantial competent evidence to justify tihe trial court’s finding of a causal connection between the accident and her present disability. Let us look at the record.
Dr. R. A. Crawford testified in part as follows:
"Q. . . . Can you say, Doctor, with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the injuries of which Mrs. Rund complained and for which you treated her were connected with the injury that she had reported to you at Cessna Aircraft?
“A. Right.
“Q. (By Mr. Forker) . . . And what you are saying then, Doctor, is knowing what she reported to you as to the nature of the injuries she received, and what you observed in the way of complaints and from the X-rays taken, would lead you to believe that the complaints derived from the injury at Cessna Aircraft Company, is that correct?
“A. Yes.”
Dr. John B. Jarrott testified in regard to the causal connection between claimant’s accidental injury and her present complaints in the following manner.
“Q. (By Mr. Forker) Dr. Jarrott, from your examination of the claimant, Mrs. Rund, from the X-rays available to you, including Dr. Crawford’s X-rays, are you able to say with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the pain and difficulty complained of by Mrs. Rund was caused by the injury which she described at Cessna Aircraft Products?
“A. Well, obviously, the only way that I can relate her findings to the accident is the history that she gave that she developed a backache after she slipped. Certainly the spondylolysis pre-existed the injury and if she sprained her back, she would get a backache.
“Q. So your answer to the question would be yes, with some reservations, is that correct?
“A. I believe so.”
*831Dr. Frederick H. Moe, a psychiatrist with the Mental Health Institute in Hutchinson, testified without equivocation that the claimant's preexisting emotional problems were exacerbated by the accident which triggered the claimant’s present complaints and disabilities. The record in this case shows a rather typical case of traumatic neurosis precipitated by a physical injury, the effects of which were made more severe by the preexisting emotional illness. The issue of causation was one to be determined by the trier of facts. In my judgment we have departed from the role of an appellate court and have assumed the role of a trial court by determining a factual issue in a way directly contrary to that of the examiner, the director and the district court.
Fatzer, C. J. and Owsley, J., join in the foregoing dissenting opinion.