In this workmen’s compensation case, Ruble Kent, appellee, received an injury to bis back while working at bis job for Malone & Hyde of Tupelo, Inc., appellant. The question is the extent of Kent’s permanent partial disability, which determines the amount of bis workmen’s
Kent was thirty-four years of age, with a sixth grade education and no special job training. He was qualified for manual labor only. He worked about three years for appellant, at first loading trucks, and for six months as an order selector, which involved lifting sacks and boxes, placing them on a cart, and delivering them to a ramp for transfer to a truck. The accidental injury to his back occurred .while he was picking up a sixty pound bag of sugar. The employer referred him to Dr. Malcolm Moore, who found muscle spasm in the lower part of the back, and some limitation in motion. X rays reflected a narrowing of the disc space between two spinal intervals. He concluded that Kent sustained a ruptured disc. Kent declined surgery, and continued to have considerable pain in his back. On several occasions he attempted to return to work, but because of the pain was unable to do so. He has not been able to obtain jobs at other establishments at which he applied.
Moore estimated Kent’s functional disability as ten percent, and “about fifteen percent as far as manual labor is concerned,” being the loss of wage-earning capacity from the accident. Claimant testified about his continuing- pain, inability to work, and failure to obtain a job at other places to which he had applied. An orthopedic surgeon said he examined Kent on two occasions, could not find enough evidence to justify a conclusion of a herniated disc or nerve root compression, although he conceded Kent’s symptoms indicated them, and that he “could have” had a ruptured disc.
The commission concluded that, as the consequence of the back injury, Kent “suffered a loss of wage-earning
I. Taitel & Son v. Twiner,
In the instant case, the commission was not confined to Dr. Moore’s estimate of loss of wage-earning capacity. It had the power and duty to evaluate other evidence relating to the above factors, which might "be of probative value on this issue. The question is to be determined from the evidence as a whole. Hale v. General Box Manuf. Co.,
Affirmed.
