Iowa Workers' Compensation

In Lynch Livestock v. Bursell , No. 17-1629 (Iowa App. March 6, 2019), claimant was awarded medical expenses for unauthorized care premised on a beneficial care theory. In an earlier appeal, the court of appeals had remanded the claim to the agency, finding that if alternate care had not been correctly ordered based on the correct legal standard, claimant must prove the treatment was reasonable and beneficial. On remand, the agency denied the petition for alternate medical care because claimant had not exhausted conservative care before obtaining surgery.  Following the alternate care hearing, an arbitration hearing was held and claimant was awarded medical care, finding that the deauthorization of certain previously authorized physicians was inappropriate and that claimant's care with these doctors was reasonable and beneficial. At the district court level, the employer argued that claimant had not met the Bell Brothers  standard.  the district court agreed, holding ...

A series of commissioners has held that when an authorized treating physician recommends treatment that treatment is deemed to be authorized under 85.27(4) of the Iowa Code.  In Lynch Livestock v. Bursell, No. 14-1133 (Iowa App. May 20, 2015), the Iowa Court of Appeals turns this longstanding agency rule on its head and concludes that in the context of an alternate medical care proceeding, the claimant must demonstrate that the care offered by the employer is unreasonable, notwithstanding that the care sought is recommended by the authorized treating physician.  The decision of the court of appeals could well sound the death knell of a large portion of alternate medical care proceedings by destroying the authorized physician rule. In Mr. Bursell's case, Dr. Cook, an authorized treating physician, diagnosed claimant with CRPS and referred him to Dr. Kelly, a vascular surgeon.  Dr. Kelly recommended a lumbar sympathectomy.  Defendants subsequently sent claimant to ot...