No. 05373889 (1999). EMPLOYEE: Christopher Lewin.

Case DateJanuary 29, 1999
CourtMassachusetts
Massachusetts Workers Compensation 1999. No. 05373889 (1999). EMPLOYEE: Christopher Lewin COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS EMPLOYEE: Christopher Lewin EMPLOYER: Danvers Butchery, Inc. INSURER: Public Service MutualBOARD NO. 05373889REVIEWING BOARD DECISION (Judges Carroll, Levine and Maze-Rothstein)APPEARANCES William N. Batty, Esq., for the employee Paul R. Matthews, Esq., for the insurer CARROLL, J. The employee appeals a decision in which an administrative judge denied and dismissed his claim for § 30 medical benefits to pay for chiropractic treatment that he claimed was causally related to his accepted 1989 industrial injury. The employee argues that the judge applied the wrong standard in deciding that the employee's palliative treatment was not compensable. We agree that the judge, while recognizing that palliative treatment can be compensable, appeared to base his denial of the claim on the lack of medical improvement gained from the treatment. We therefore recommit the case for clarification and further findings. Mr. Lewin injured his back in an industrial accident on September 30, 1989. He remained out of work until 1991, when he lump summed his case, and returned to work in Georgia. He did not treat during the four years he lived in Georgia, although he experi-enced ongoing back pain the entire time. In 1995, the employee returned to Massachusetts, and began to treat with Dr. Steven Galena, a chiropractor in Danvers. (Dec. 3.) He had daily treatments for the first week and then gradually decreased to one visit per week. (Dec. 3-4.) The employee felt better after each visit to the chiropractor although the relief was only temporary. (Dec. 4.) He was working as a house manager for a group home throughout the period of disputed treatment. Id. Mr. Lewin filed a § 30 medical benefits claim for chiropractic treatment from 1995 through December 17, 1996. (Dec. 7.) The insurer resisted the claim. Following a § 10A conference denial of the claim, the employee appealed to a hearing de novo. Pursuant to § 11A, the employee underwent an impartial examination by Dr. Daniel F. Sullivan, a New Hampshire chiropractor. (Dec. 4.) The impartial examiner found decreased ranges of motion and objective signs of low back pain causally related to the industrial injury, noting that the employee took analgesic...

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