Maytag v. Elliott

This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. _ 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. The employer, Maytag Cooking Products, has appealed from the action of the trial court in awarding the employee permanent partial disability benefits of 4% to her left arm. The only issue on appeal is whether the expert medical testimony is sufficient to support the award of permanent disability. Carolyn D. Elliott was 5 years of age at the time of the trial and was a high school graduate. She had been employed by Maytag Cooking Products and a prior company for about 25 years. For some period of time, she was on a production line using an air gun to put screws through switches on a panel. Although she had some problems several years earlier, her left elbow began hurting so much she had to seek medical treatment during June 1993. This gradual injury resulted in her seeing several doctors and eventually in her seeing Dr. Richard B. Donaldson, the only expert medical witness to testify. At the trial below, which was about three years later, she told the court she still had pain in her arm; swelling of the arm frequently occurred and she did not feel her condition had improved very much. She had returned to work and was earning an amount equal to or greater than her previous wage. Her employer had reassigned her to lighter duty work but she did not feel she was performing her work satisfactorily. She testified she still could not iron, mow the yard, use a hair dryer or lift anything with her left arm. She is left-handed. She expressed the opinion that she had about an 8% loss of use of her left arm. Dr. Richardson, an orthopedic surgeon, testified by deposition. He said he saw her in connection with her obtaining a second opinion as to her medical condition. He testified she had a lateral and medial epicondylitis of the left elbow and this was a condition commonly known as tendinitis or tennis elbow. He recommended surgery which he felt would improve her condition but this had not 2