City of Salem v. Colegrove

This workers’ compensation appeal raises the question whether the “reasonable and necessary vocational rehabilitation training services” provided for by Code § 65.1-88 * include a four-year college course.

Haskel W. Colegrove, the claimant, suffered a serious compensable back injury in 1978 while working as a laborer on a refuse-collecting truck for the City of Salem. The City’s insurance carrier paid for extensive medical treatment, including a spinal fusion. In July 1979, Dr. Robert A. Pruner, a physician chosen by the carrier, examined the claimant with respect to his fitness for selective…