Georgia Employee Not Entitled to Change in Physician Since Injury Was Resolved

Where the Georgia Board found that the employee’s work-related injuries had resolved prior to the date the employee requested a change in her treating physician, it was appropriate for the Board to deny her requests for a change in her authorized treating physician and for additional medical treatment for her work-related injuries [Hartford Casualty Insurance Company v. Hawkins, 2020 Ga. App. LEXIS 65 (Feb. 18, 2020)]. Accordingly, it was error for the superior court to rely on Board Rule 201(c), reverse the Board, and conclude that because the employer did not have a valid panel of physicians at the time of the employee’s initial October 8, 2015 injury, the employee automatically possessed the right to a unilateral change of physician.

Employee Must Show Medical Services Are Related to Injury

The court stressed that the employee had the burden of proving that the medical services she was seeking were directly related to a work-related injury. Here, however, the Board found, based on evidence in the record, that the employee’s her work-related injuries had resolved as of August 1, 2017. Thus, the Board acted within its discretion in denying the request for additional medical treatment.

The court added that the Georgia Board had broad discretion under the standards set forth in OCGA § 34-9-200(a) to determine what medical treatment the employer and insurer would be required to furnish to an injured employee. The Board determined that the injury had already resolved itself. The question of which provider should be authorized for the requested treatment was moot. The superior court erred in concluding that the employee was entitled to a change in her authorized treating physician.