An Illinois appellate court said an injured worker’s subjective complaint of pain was sufficient evidence to support a determination that her repetitive trauma claim was compensable.
Dora Potts claimed a repetitive trauma injury to her left shoulder over the 14 years she worked as a dental hygienist for Tazewell County. A doctor in April 2019 diagnosed her with acute pain in the left shoulder and left rotator cuff tendonitis and an MRI that showed severe rotator cuff tendinosis and other injuries, including arthritis and bursitis, according to Tazewell County v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (Potts), filed Friday in the 4th District Appellate Court of Illinois.
Over the years, doctors and courts have disagreed on whether the injuries are pre-existing or work-related. The state’s appellate court said that Ms. Potts had proved a work-related injury and that the underlying resolution of the case is whether repetitive work activity that results solely in pain from a preexisting, non-work-related condition is compensable in the absence of a concomitant worsening of the underlying condition.
“Based on our holding that pain alone may be compensable,” the court ruled in favor of Ms. Potts.
One judge dissented, writing that there was “no evidence” proving that employment aggravated the preexisting condition.
To establish a causal connection, the employee must show that a work-related accidental injury aggravated or accelerated the preexisting disease. Without that evidence, Ms. Potts’ claim should fail, the judge claimed.
This article was first published in Business Insurance.
