Court Opinion

ID: 9687169
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:17:42.371299+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:24.650944
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(concurring in part, dissenting in part).
I concur with the entirety of the majority opinion with the exception of a single as*400pect, reversal of Plaintiff’s award for chiropractic treatment. Numerous references to the legitimacy of the science of chiropractic as a “healing art” appear in Nelson v. Palmquist, 363 N.W.2d 570 (S.D.1985). See also SDCL 36-5-1 (defining “Chiropractic” as “the science of locating and removing the cause of any abnormal transmission of nerve energy including diagnostic and externally applied mechanical measures incident thereto.”); SDCL 36-5-2 (making practice of chiropractic without a license a misdemeanor, and recognizing a board of chiropractic examiners); SDCL 36-5-8 (educational requirements for chiropractors); and SDCL 36-5-12 (scope of examination of prospective chiropractors). Clearly, the fact that the treatments at issue were chiropractic in nature does not disqualify them from consideration under SDCL 62-4-1, which requires employers to provide “necessary ... or other suitable and proper care” to employees.
Dr. Nice’s testimony, as the majority opinion characterizes it, was that Plaintiff’s chiropractic treatments were “appropriate.” Yet, the majority goes on to find that the Department’s finding was “unsupported by any finding that such treatment was necessary or proper and suitable.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary 50 (1974) establishes that “appropriate” means “suitable” and is a synonym for “proper.” If SDCL 62-4-1 requires that treatment be “suitable and proper,” “appropriate” treatment surely qualifies. Beyond this, the majority also ignores Dr. Nice’s testimony that chiropractic loosens up back muscles making patients more comfortable, and that Plaintiff in fact did feel relief from his pain through such treatments. Dr. Nice also indicated that chiropractic treatments can provide more symptomatic relief than his own methods. Are we to accept that relief from pain is unnecessary, or improper and unsuitable? The Department’s memorandum decision of November 21, 1986, refers to Dr. Nice’s testimony to the effect that Plaintiff's chiropractic treatment relieved him of pain, and its Finding of Fact No. XVIII, dated January 28, 1987, reflected that “[w]hen the Claimant experienced reoccuring [sic] lower back pain, he obtained chiropractic treatment which relieved this pain at a cost of $254.00.” The evidence supported the finding of fact, which in turn supported the Department’s Conclusion of Law No. VIII that the employer was obligated to pay for the “necessary” chiropractic treatments. The Department and trial court were correct in awarding Plaintiff the cost of these treatments, and should have been affirmed. We, who serve on this Court, should not render an interpretation of a statute which would cause the statute to be ineffective or meaningless. City of Sioux Falls v. State Bd. of Equalization, 87 S.D. 106, 109, 203 N.W.2d 419, 421 (1973). Quite to the contrary, in the appellate process, we on this Court should liberally construe the provisions of the workmen’s compensation law in this state. Keil v. Nelson, 355 N.W.2d 525 (S.D.1984); South Dakota Medical Serv. v. Minnesota Mut. Fire & Cas. Co., 303 N.W.2d 358 (S.D.1981). Here, we typically see a blue collar worker depending upon a chiropractor to obtain relief from pain. His physician, Dr. Nice, who treated him from the beginning, testified that these chiropractic services were “appropriate.”