Nebraska Court of Appeals Details Necessary Evidence for Relation of Medical Bills

In the recent decision of Escobar v. JBS USA, the Nebraska Court of Appeals held that the Workers’ Compensation Court erred in ordering JBS to pay for hospital expenses that the trial court “was not familiar with, could not find documentation in the medical records to explain the charge, or were for treatment for the combined diagnoses.”

Escobar had a compensable back injury. Eight months after his accident, he was hospitalized for two days after he complained that the entire right side of his body went numb. While hospitalized, some of the diagnostic tests and treatment addressed his back complaints, but others clearly did not. With regard to many other charges, it was unclear for what conditions the treatment was provided. Instead of ordering JBS to pay for only those charges which were related to Escobar’s back complaints, the trial court ordered JBS to pay for those which the judge “was not familiar with, could not find documentation in the medical records to explain the charge, or were for treatment for the combined diagnoses.” As to that specific finding, the Court of Appeals held that the compensation court erred “by requiring JBS to pay for the medical services rendered which were unfamiliar and undocumented” and remanded the matter back to the trial judge to “list separately those charges it found to be related to the workplace injury” and order JBS “to pay only those related charges.”

This case is a good reminder of the rule that there must be evidence to show that medical charges were necessitated by the work injury, and if not, the charges are not compensable.

Baylor Evnen attorneys, Dallas Jones and Thomas Shires, handled the appeal on behalf of JBS.

If you have questions regarding this case or other workers’ compensation issues, please contact Nebraska Workers’ Compensation attorneys, Dallas Jones, at DJones@baylorevnen.com, or Thomas Shires, at TShires@Baylorevnen.com, or call (402) 475-1075.