Lovett v. Delta Regional Medical Center

Summary

The Mississippi Supreme Court reviews a workers’ compensation dispute involving a security guard’s slip-and-fall injuries, alleged loss of wage-earning capacity, and subsequent medical treatment. The Court holds that substantial evidence supported the Commission’s rejection of a thirty percent industrial loss determination, but concludes that Lovett was entitled to compensation for her undisputed two percent functional impairment to her right lower extremity. The Court affirms in part and remands for entry of an award addressing that impairment.

Holdings

1. The Commission’s finding that Lovett did not sustain a thirty percent loss of wage-earning capacity was supported by substantial evidence and was affirmed.
2. Because Lovett had an undisputed two percent functional impairment to a scheduled member, she was entitled to a permanent partial disability award for that impairment.
3. The chain-of-referral issue was waived because Lovett raised it for the first time in her petition for certiorari review.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Lovett was entitled to a separate two percent permanent partial disability award for the functional impairment to her right lower extremity.
2. Whether substantial evidence supported the Commission’s rejection of the administrative judge’s finding that Lovett sustained a thirty percent loss of wage-earning capacity from her back injury.
3. Whether Dr. Jenkins’s treatment was within the requisite chain of referral.

Disposition

remanded