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United States Department of Labor

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board

 

 

__________________________________________   PARKER C. SPARLIN, Appellant   and   U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, POST OFFICE, Fort Worth, TX, Employer __________________________________________

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Docket No. 04-822 Issued: July 9, 2004

Appearances:                                                                          Case Submitted on the Record

Parker C. Sparlin, pro se

Office of Solicitor, for the Director

 

 

DECISION AND ORDER

 

Before:

COLLEEN DUFFY KIKO, Member

WILLIE T.C. THOMAS, Alternate Member

A. PETER KANJORSKI, Alternate Member

 

 

JURISDICTION

 

On February 9, 2004 appellant filed a timely appeal from an Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs’ merit decision dated March 10, 2003.[1]  Pursuant to 20 C.F.R. §§ 501.2(c) and 501.3, the Board has jurisdiction over the merits of appellant’s claim under 20 C.F.R. §§ 501.2(c) and 501.3. 

ISSUE

 

The issue is whether appellant established that he sustained a recurrence of his medical condition on August 20, 2002 due to the January 3, 1994 employment injury. 

FACTUAL HISTORY

            The Office accepted appellant’s claim for a medial meniscus tear of the left knee and arthroscopy of the left knee arising from a January 3, 1994 employment injury.  On December 1, 1994 the Office issued appellant a schedule award of a nine percent permanent loss of use of the left leg.  On September 25, 1999 appellant accepted a limited-duty job offer. 

Appellant filed a CA-2a only for medical benefits, alleging that he sustained a recurrence of his medical condition on August 20, 2002 due to the January 3, 1994 employment injury.  Appellant stated that he was a truck driver but after the January 3, 1994 employment injury, he was unable to drive.  Appellant retired from the employing establishment on July 3, 2001.  The most recent medical evidence in the record is from appellant’s treating physician, Dr. Angelo L. Otero, a Board-certified orthopedic surgeon, dated April 30, 2001.  In that report, Dr. Otero stated that appellant had not worked since January 19, 2001, that his left knee was “pretty much” swollen and appellant had osteoarthritis.  He stated that on examination appellant had a Grade 2 effusion and walked favoring the left leg.  Dr. Otero recommended giving appellant Hyalgan injections. 

In a letter dated January 2, 2003, the Office informed appellant that he should submit additional evidence including a narrative report from his treating physician explaining how his condition worsened and a statement from him or coworkers or both explaining how, if he was working light duty prior to being completely disabled,  the light-duty assignment changed. 

Appellant did not submit any additional evidence.

By decision dated March  10, 2003, the Office denied the claim, stating that the evidence of record failed to establish that the claimed recurrence was causally related to the approved injury. 

LEGAL PRECEDENT

 

            A claimant seeking compensation under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act[2] has the burden of establishing the essential element of his claim by the weight of the reliable probative and substantial evidence.[3]  In this case, appellant has the burden of establishing that he sustained a recurrence of a medical condition[4] on August 20, 2002 causally related to the January 3, 1994 employment injury.  To establish the requisite causal connection, appellant is responsible for submitting an attending physician’s report which contains a description of the objective findings and supports causal relationship between appellant’s current and the accepted condition.[5]

           

            The evidence generally required to establish causal relationship is rationalized medical opinion evidence.  The medical opinion must be based on a complete factual and medical background with an accurate history of the claimant’s employment injury and must explain from a medical perspective how the current condition is related to the injury.[6]

 

ANALYSIS

 

In this case, appellant did not submit any medical or factual evidence to support a causal relationship between his condition as of August 20, 2002 and the employment injury.  The most recent medical evidence in the record was the April 30, 2001 report of his treating physician, Dr. Otero, which stated that appellant had osteoarthritis and should undergo Hyalgan injections but that report is not relevant to whether appellant sustained a recurrence of his medical condition on August 20, 2002.  The report does not address a causal relationship between appellant’s medical condition on August 20, 2002 and the accepted condition of medial meniscus tear.  Although in a January 2, 2003 letter, the Office informed appellant of the evidence that it was necessary for him to submit to establish his claim, appellant did not submit additional evidence.  He therefore failed to establish his claim for a recurrence of his medical condition.

CONCLUSION

 

The Board finds that appellant failed to establish that he sustained a recurrence of his medical condition on August 20, 2002 due to the January 3, 1994 employment injury.  Appellant did not submit the requisite medical evidence to establish his claim.[7] 

ORDER

 

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the March 10, 2003 decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs is affirmed.

Issued: July 9, 2004

Washington, DC

 

 

 

                                                                                                            Colleen Duffy Kiko

                                                                                                            Member

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                            Willie T.C. Thomas

                                                                                                            Alternate Member

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                            A. Peter Kanjorski

                                                                                                            Alternate Member