RONALD STRAND, Employee,
v.
J & R SCHUGEL TRUCKING and FIREMAN'S FUND INS. CO./SELF FUNDED SERVS. CO., Employer-Insurer/Appellants,
and
BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD OF MINN. and BLUE PLUS, Intervenors.
Minnesota Workers Compensation
Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals
April 28, 1999
HEADNOTES
CAUSATION
- MEDICAL TREATMENT. Substantial evidence supports the
compensation judge's determination that the
employee's January 12, 1998 surgery, in which a
pre-existing abscess discovered during the surgery was
drained and cleaned, was causally related to his admitted
July 9, 1997 personal injury in the nature of a left inguinal
hernia.
Affirmed.
Determined by Johnson, J., Wheeler, C.J., and Hefte, J.
Compensation Judge: Ronald E. Erickson
OPINION
THOMAS
L. JOHNSON, Judge
J &
R Schugel Trucking and Fireman's Fund Insurance Company
appeal the compensation judge's finding that the
employee's claim for medical and indemnity benefits
resulting from treatment for an abscess is compensable under
the Workers' Compensation Act. We affirm.
BACKGROUND
On July
9, 1997, Ronald Strand, the employee, sustained a personal
injury in the nature of a left inguinal hernia while working
for J & R Schugel Trucking, the employer, insured by
Fireman's Fund Insurance Company. The employer and
insurer admitted liability for the employee's injury.
The
employee had a previous, non-work-related hernia which was
surgically repaired in 1975. (T. 47-48.) Prior to the
July 9, 1997 injury, during driving physicals, doctors noted
scar tissue at the site of the original surgery. The
employee testified the hernia repair did not cause any
symptoms or problems, and the doctors told him the scar
tissue was nothing to worry about. (T. 39-40,
48-49.) On May 23, 1997, the employee was seen by Dr.
Anthony C. Jaspers for a Department of Transportation
physical. Dr. Jaspers noted "a firm area in the
left lower quadrant that may be a hernia." The
employee was referred to the surgical department for
symptomatic hemorrhoids and a possible hernia. (Pet. Ex.
D; Resp. Ex. 5.)
The
employee returned to see Dr. Jaspers on July 15,
1997. He told Dr. Jaspers he was pulling hard on a spare
tire caught between the cab and box of his semi, when he felt
and heard a pop in his left lower abdomen. Initially, he
noticed a bulge in his abdomen which decreased but remained
sore. On examination, Dr. Jaspers noted tenderness in
the left lower abdomen above the site of his previous hernia
scar. The doctor thought the employee might have a
defect there although he could not...
