STATE OF FLORIDA, HENDRY COUNTY CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTE, DIVISION OF RISK MANAGEMENT (SELF-INSURED), APPELLANT,
v.
DANNY R. HUGHES, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1982-04-14
No. AD-256
ROBERT P. SMITH, Jr., C. J., and LARRY G. SMITH and WIGGINTON, JJ., concur.
412 So. 2d 922 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1982) Negative Treatment
Cited by 5 cases

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Synopsis

The Florida Court of Appeal reversed a deputy commissioner's order requiring an employer/carrier to pay for ambulance transportation of an injured worker to his father's funeral, held 125 miles away. The court held that workers' compensation statutes do not require employers to pay for travel undertaken for reasons unrelated to treatment of compensable industrial injuries, even when a physician opines that attending the funeral may aid recovery.


Holding

The court held that employers are not required to pay for travel undertaken for reasons unrelated to treatment of compensable industrial injuries. The death of the employee's father and his reaction to it are extraneous to industrial injuries and do not constitute compensable medical treatment costs, regardless of incidental benefits to recovery.


Headnotes

[1] An employer/carrier is not required to pay for transportation for reasons unrelated to the treatment of injuries sustained by an employee in a compensable industrial acci…

[2] Sympathy for an employee's personal misfortunes, even if they may impede recovery, cannot justify an award for expenses not related to the compensable injury.

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Key Quotes

“The statute does not require the employer/carrier to pay for travel undertaken for reasons unrelated to the treatment of injuries sustained by the employee in a compensable industrial accident.”

Establishes the core principle that workers' compensation covers only treatment-related travel

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Facts & Procedural History

Danny Hughes suffered a compensable industrial accident requiring back surgery. While hospitalized post-surgery, Hughes's father died. Hughes's treati…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Following an emergency hearing, the deputy commissioner ordered the employer/carrier to pay for claimant’s transportation by ambulance to his father’s funeral, to be held a distance of approximately 125 miles from where the claimant was hospitalized. The employer/carrier appealed. We have jurisdiction.1 We reverse.

The facts are not in dispute.2 The claimant suffered a compensable industrial accident which required back surgery. Following the surgery, while the claimant was still in the hospital, his father died. Dr. Hall, the surgeon who performed claimant’s operation, was unwilling to allow claimant to attend his father’s funeral unless he was transported to and from the funeral by ambulance. The deputy commissioner convened an emergency hearing for the sole purpose of determining whether the employer/carrier should be required to pay for this transportation. Dr. Hall was the only witness. He testified that claimant was very close to his father, that claimant had a psychiatric condition which predated and was unrelated to his industrial accident, that he would suffer major psychiatric problems if he was unable to attend his father’s funeral, and that these problems may impede his recovery from surgery. The deputy commissioner found that it would be in the best interest of all parties that claimant attend his father’s funeral, and ordered the employer/carrier to pay the costs of transportation.

The employer/carrier is required to furnish an injured employee “such remedial treatment, care, and attendance under the direction and supervision of a qualified physician or surgeon, or other recognized practitioner, nurse, or hospital, and for such period as the nature of the injury or process of recovery may require, including medicines, crutches, artificial members, and other apparatus.”3 In addition, “[a]n injured employee is entitled, as part of his remedial treatment, care, and attendance, to reasonable actual costs of transportation to and from the doctor’s office, hospital, or other place of treatment by the most economical means of transportation available and suitable in the individual case.” Section 440.-13(4), Florida Statutes (1977).

The statute does not require the employer/carrier to pay for travel undertaken for reasons unrelated to the treatment of injuries sustained by the employee in a compensable industrial accident. The death of the claimant’s father and claimant’s reaction to it are matters extraneous to his industrial injuries and are no different (except in degree) than any number of other misfortunes which we all must suffer, and which none of us may control. We recognize the debilitating effect which the death of a loved one can have on an individual recovering from the trauma of surgery, and we recognize the sympathy with which the deputy commissioner must have viewed the claimant’s plight. But, sympathy resulting from the recognition of a shared fate, however natural and human, cannot support this award.

The order of the deputy commissioner is reversed, and the cause is remanded with directions to dismiss the claim.

ROBERT P. SMITH, Jr., C. J., and LARRY G. SMITH and WIGGINTON, JJ., concur. . The order disposes of the only issue ripe for adjudication, the question of the employer/carrier’s responsibility to provide this transportation, and is, therefore, a final order. . A malfunction in the deputy commissioner’s recording equipment has resulted in the absence of a transcript of the hearing. Because the parties are in agreement as to the operative facts, we have treated this case as an appeal on stipulated facts pursuant to W.C.R.P. 18(c).

. Claimant’s accident occurred on December 30, 1977. The benefits to which he is entitled and the duties of the employer/carrier are fixed by the statute in effect on that date, § 440.-13(1), Florida Statutes (1977). Phillips v. City of West Palm Beach, 70 So. 2d 345 (Fla.1953).


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Citator

Cited By

  • Timothy Bowser Constr. Co. & Cigna Ins. Co. v. Kowalski, 605 So. 2d 885 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
    …costs are reasonably medically necessary, consistent with our discussion herein and with our holdings in Marlowe v. Dogs Only Grooming, 589 So. 2d 990 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991) and State, Hendry County Correctional Inst., Div. of Risk Managem’t v. Hughes, 412 So. 2d 922 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). We affirm the award of housing for Claimant, but reverse that portion of the award requiring the e/c to provide a second bedroom and bathroom for Claimant’s parents. See Prestressed Decking Corp. v. Medrano, 556 So. 2d 406, 408-…
  • Ulmer v. Coiffures, 458 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)
    …orth v. Robinson, 411 So. 2d 958 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). Rejected claims have included compensation for ambulance transportation of the injured worker to his father’s funeral, State, County Correctional Institute, Division of Risk Management v. Hughes, 412 So. 2d 922 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982), and housekeeping services not specifically necessitated by the industrial injury, South Coast Construction Co. v. Chizauskas, 172 So. 2d 442 (Fla. 1965). We do not find these rulings to control disposition of this appeal. Counse…
  • Purple Pride, Inc. v. Burgess (Fla. 1st DCA 2026)
    …so includes visits to a claimant's mother's home. Dade Cnty. Sch. Bd. v. Grier, 648 So. 2d 805, 806 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994). It even includes transportation to a claimant's father's funeral. State, Hendry Cnty. Corr. Inst., Div. of Risk Mgmt. v. Hughes, 412 So. 2d 922, 923 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). In short, “transportation other than to a doctor” 1 The E/C first argues on appeal that, while the JCC had jurisdiction to adjudicate the dispute, the JCC did not have jurisdiction to ultimately order the E/C to “pay Claim…

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