Court Opinion

ID: 9549428
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:18:23.930152+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:20:18.882349
License: Public Domain

ROSSMAN, J.,
dissenting.
On the basis of claimant’s testimony that he feels better when he receives chiropractic treatments and worse when he does not and the chiropractor’s testimony that he had instructed claimant to come in for the treatments and his suggestion that claimant be sent to a pain clinic if not to him, the majority holds that there is enough evidence to sustain a finding that the treatments are reasonable and necessary. I do not agree.
It is probable that all of us would feel better after a weekly rubdown; however, more than a showing of beneficial results are required to sustain a workers’ compensation claim for such expenses and more than that is required here. The medical costs of palliative procedures are recoverable when they are “necessary and reasonably incurred.” Wetzel v. Goodwin Brothers, 50 Or App 101, 108, 622 P2d 750 (1981). That a particular treatment “works” does not, without more, establish that it is reasonable and necessary. Thus, it is surprising that the majority notes, but apparently attributes no significance to the fact that “the only difference between this case and Wetzel is that the chiropractor in Wetzel testified that the treatments were necessary and reasonably performed.” On this record, that distinction is crucial. Although I am by no means a stickler for the presence of “magic words,” I believe that the Wetzel requirement must have some content, and I am convinced that the majority’s holding leaves it with none. The order of the Workers’ Compensation Board should be affirmed.