Pizza Shop Must Pay for Worker’s Weight-Loss Surgery, Appeals Court Says

A pizza shop must pay for a worker's weight-loss surgery, an Indiana appeals court has ruled in a case that is making headlines, because an on-the-job back injury contributed to his subsequent obesity.

If Adam Childers doesn't have the weight-loss surgery, doctors say, the back surgery he needs as a result of a workplace injury won't be successful. Plus, he gained additional weight because the immobilizing back pain he experienced after being hit by a freezer door at Boston's Gourmet Pizza made it impossible for him to exercise, the Indiana Court of Appeals recounts in a written opinion (PDF) on the case.

"It is undisputed that Childers' back injury arose out of and in the course of his employment," the opinion states. Because the Worker's Compensation Board of Indiana, "made the factual finding, supported by the evidence of record, that the necessary treatment for his lower back injury included the precursor lap-band procedure," and because Childers was not impaired by his weight prior to his back injury, "evidence supports the board's conclusion of the requisite causal relationship between Childers' work-related injury and the need for lap-band treatment."

The pizza shop argued that it shouldn't have to pay for the weight-loss surgery, contending that Childers' obesity (he was 340 pounds at the time of the injury) was a pre-existing condition, the Associated Press reports.

Additional coverage:

Comp Time: "Weight loss surgery on the boss"