Opinion
No. 3-218 / 02-0929.
Filed April 30, 2003.
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, RICHARD G. BLANE II, Judge.
A claimant appeals from a workers' compensation decision limiting her permanent partial disability recovery to a scheduled loss. AFFIRMED.
Christopher Spaulding of Berg, Rouse, Spaulding Schmidt, P.C., Des Moines, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Charles Lavorato, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
Considered by SACKETT, C.J., and ZIMMER and VAITHESWARAN, JJ.
Under our workers' compensation scheme, permanent partial disabilities are characterized as either scheduled or unscheduled losses. Sherman v. Pella Corp., 576 N.W.2d 312, 320 (Iowa 1998). Scheduled losses are impairments to certain specific body parts identified by statute and they are compensated pursuant to a statutory scheme. See Iowa Code § 85.34(2)(a)-(t) (2001). Unscheduled losses are impairments to body parts not expressly identified in the statute on scheduled injuries, impairments that extend beyond the body parts identified in the statute, or impairments to the body as a whole. Sherman, 576 N.W.2d at 320; Barton v. Nevada Poultry Co., 253 Iowa 285, 292, 110 N.W.2d 660, 663 (1961). These losses are compensated by determining the employee's industrial disability, which is a measure of lost earning capacity. Sherman, 576 N.W.2d at 320-21.
Linda Smith worked for the Woodward State Hospital as a cook. She slipped and fell in the kitchen, injuring her left leg. A deputy workers' compensation commissioner determined Smith's injury extended beyond her leg and, therefore, was not a scheduled loss. After considering her age, education, vocational training, and treatment history, the deputy found she sustained an industrial disability.
On intra-agency appeal, a chief deputy workers' compensation commissioner reversed. He found that Smith's impairment was limited to her leg and should be compensated as a scheduled loss. The district court affirmed this final agency decision and Smith sought further judicial review.
The key question is whether the final agency decision is supported by substantial evidence in the record as a whole. See Iowa Code § 17A.19(10)(f). In answering this question, we apply the well established principle that evidence is not insubstantial merely because it would have supported contrary inferences. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Caselman, 657 N.W.2d 493, 499 (Iowa 2003).
The record reflects Smith experienced pain, tenderness, and swelling in the lower portion of her left leg. Although there is evidence that the pain sometimes radiated up Smith's leg toward her hip, this evidence does not refute the agency finding that "[h]er impairment is confined to the leg." As our highest court stated more than half a century ago, to obtain compensation beyond the statutory scheme for scheduled losses, a claimant must establish "a disability separate and distinct from the usual, ordinary and natural results of the injury to the scheduled member. . . ." Dailey v. Pooley Lumber Co., 233 Iowa 758, 764, 10 N.W.2d 569, 573 (1943). The agency reasonably could have found that pain radiating up the leg was not such a distinct disability.
Nor does the fact that a physician limited Smith's physical activity require an inference that her impairment extended beyond her leg. Those limits on standing and walking implicated "leg-related functions." Lauhoff Grain Co. v. McIntosh, 395 N.W.2d 834, 840 (Iowa 1986) (noting evidence of disabling pain in hip and back was not directly related to leg functions of walking, standing, lifting, and crawling).
Finally, Smith's reliance on the medical opinion of one Dr. Ban is misplaced. While he stated her impairment was related to certain diseased veins, he conceded these veins were localized in Smith's lower leg. Contrast Collins v. Dep't of Human Servs, 529 N.W.2d 627, 629 (Iowa Ct.App. 1995) (finding entitlement to industrial disability compensation where claimant suffered scheduled injury to hands as well as injury to her entire nervous system).
We find substantial evidentiary support for the final agency decision.
AFFIRMED.