Summary
The Michigan Supreme Court denied leave to appeal from a Michigan Court of Appeals order in a workers' compensation dispute. The dissent argued that the plaintiff's failure to stop smoking, which caused cancellation of recommended surgery, could constitute an unreasonable refusal of medical treatment warranting suspension of benefits. The dissent would have remanded for findings on whether the surgery was unreasonably dangerous and offered a reasonable prospect of relieving the plaintiff's incapacity.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the Michigan Supreme Court should grant defendants' application for leave to appeal the Workers' Compensation Appellate Commission's decision.
- Whether a claimant's failure to comply with a smoking-cessation condition that prevents recommended surgery may constitute a refusal of medical treatment justifying suspension of workers' compensation benefits.
- Whether the refusal of surgery was unreasonable without findings concerning the danger of the procedure and its reasonable prospect of relieving the claimant's incapacity or pain.
Holdings
- The Michigan Supreme Court denied defendants' application for leave to appeal because it was not persuaded that the questions presented warranted review.
Key quotations
“In order to justify the suspension of benefits, defendant must demonstrate that plaintiff unreasonably refused medical treatment.” (477)
“If the operation is not attended with danger to life or health, or extraordinary suffering, and if, according to the best medical or surgical opinion, the operation offers a reasonable prospect of restoration or relief from the incapacity from which the workman is suffering, then he must either submit to the operation or release his employers from the obligation to maintain him.” (477)
Factual background
Plaintiff, a truck driver, suffered a work-related neck injury that prevented her from performing her job. Her physician recommended surgery but required her to stop smoking for six months before the procedure; after three months, plaintiff resumed smoking and the physician canceled the surgery. The workers' compensation magistrate treated this conduct as an unreasonable refusal of medical treatment and suspended benefits, but the Workers' Compensation Appellate Commission reversed.
Procedural history
A workers' compensation magistrate suspended plaintiff's benefits after finding that her failure to stop smoking before scheduled surgery constituted an unreasonable refusal of medical treatment. The Workers' Compensation Appellate Commission reversed. Defendants sought leave to appeal in the Michigan Supreme Court, which denied the application without plenary review.