Tennessee: Court Awards PTD Benefits for Migraines in Spite of AMA Guides (6th ed.)

The Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court of Tennessee affirmed an award of PTD benefits to an X-ray technician who contended her migraine headaches were triggered by exposure to chemicals at a medical clinic where she worked. The panel noted the sharp disagreement in the medical evidence testimony offered by the technician and her employer, but said it was for the trial court to weigh such evidence in making its determination. The panel specifically held that the trial court had not erred in giving “little weight” to the AMA Guides (6th edition), which assigned only maximum five percent impairment for migraine headache conditions. The appeals panel concluded that the evidence did not preponderate against the trial court’s finding that the technician was permanently and totally disabled.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Patton v. Paris Henry Cnty. Med. Clinic, 2016 Tenn. LEXIS 858 (Nov. 30, 2016)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 130.05.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see