4-296-588 (1998). DONALD GONZALES.

• Case Date: September 10, 1998
• Court: Colorado

Colorado Workers Compensation 1998. 4-296-588 (1998). DONALD GONZALES INDUSTRIAL CLAIM APPEALS OFFICEIN THE MATTER OF THE CLAIM OF DONALD GONZALES Claimant, v. CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER Employer, and SELF-INSURED Insurer, Respondent.W. C. No. 4-296-588FINAL ORDER The respondent seeks review of a final order of Administrative Law Judge Erickson (ALJ) which awarded permanent partial disability benefits based on a seventeen percent whole person medical impairment rating. The respondent contends that the record compels the conclusion the claimant's impairment is limited to a scheduled disability based on loss of the arm at the shoulder under § 8-42-107 (2)(a), C.R.S. 1998. The respondent also cites Morris v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office, 942 P.2d 1343 (Colo. App. 1997), for the proposition that because the claimant sustained no rateable impairment of his thoracic spine the shoulder injury must be rated on the schedule. We affirm the ALJ's award based on the whole person impairment rating. The claimant sustained a compensable injury to his right shoulder on August 19, 1995. The treating physician, Dr. Kem, diagnosed "impingement syndrome," and performed an anterior acromioplasty and excision of the coracoacromial ligament in March 1996. After the claimant reached maximum medical improvement (MMI), he underwent a Division-sponsored independent medical examination (IME) by Dr. Kassan. Dr. Kassan rated the claimant as suffering from a twenty-eight percent upper extremity impairment, which converts to a seventeen percent whole person impairment. (Tr. p. 8). Dr. Kassan also opined that the claimant has no rateable impairment of his thoracic spine. At the hearing, the claimant presented the testimony of Dr. Harder. Dr. Harder testified that the arm is defined as that part of the upper extremity between the glenohumeral joint and the elbow. Thus, Dr. Harder opined that the claimant's shoulder surgery was performed "above the arm" and "proximal to the humerus, which is the arm bone." (Tr. p. 20). Dr. Harder also stated that the claimant suffers from crepitus above the arm. Further, Dr. Harder testified that the claimant sustained injury to his thoracic spine, and the injury is rateable under the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Third Edition (Revised) (AMA Guides). Dr. Harder attributed this...