DARRELL LaDOUCEUR, Employee/Appellant,
v.
STATE, DEP'T OF TRANSP., SELF-INSURED, and HARTFORD INS. CO., Intervenor.
Minnesota Workers Compensation
Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals
January 25, 1999
HEADNOTES
CAUSATION
- SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Substantial evidence, including
expert medical opinion, supported the compensation
judge's conclusion that the employee's sleep disorder
was not causally related to his work accident.
Affirmed.
Determined by Wilson, J., Pederson, J., and Hefte, J.
Compensation Judge: Donald C. Erickson.
OPINION
DEBRA
A. WILSON, Judge
The
employee appeals from the compensation judge's finding
that the employee's sleep disorder is not causally
related to his work-related motor vehicle accident. We
affirm.
BACKGROUND
The
employee began work for the State of Minnesota [the
self-insured employer] in 1982. From 1986 to 1996 the
employee worked in the Department of Transportation as a
highway maintenance worker. During the winter months,
snow removal was his primary job responsibility.
On
March 24, 1996, the employee was involved in a work-related
accident when the snowplow he was operating rolled over and
slid into a ditch on its top. The employee ended up
suspended upside down from his seatbelt, but he does not
recall receiving a blow or strike to his head. A
passerby assisted the employee in exiting the truck and drove
him to Mercy Hospital in Moose Lake, where he was treated for
a left shoulder injury and released. Two days later, the
employee treated with his family physician, Dr. Kenneth
Etterman, who diagnosed "cervical, shoulder, upper back
and lumbar sprain-strain." Dr. Etterman's notes
on April 9, 1996, reflect that the employee continued to have
pain and that his "[s]leep is disturbed as
well." On April 18, 1996, Dr. Etterman noted that
the employee's sleep was disturbed at night and that the
employee had to nap during the day. The employee was
treated with physical therapy, medication, and
exercises. Thereafter, the employee had persistent
complaints of pain in the thoracic and lumbar spine, with
involuntary muscle tightness in the thoracic spine, tightness
of the paralumbar muscles, and reduced range of lumbar
motion. An MRI taken on June 2, 1997, confirmed
degenerative changes at L4-5 and L5-S1, which had earlier
appeared on x-rays.
The
employee was off work from the time of the injury until June
18, 1996, when he returned to work on a light-duty, part-time
work-hardening basis, cleaning the edge drains along
freeways. The employee testified that his back was
extremely sore while performing this job and that he
"couldn't stay awake." He also testified
to difficulty staying awake while driving. The employee
was restricted to working four hours per day, three days per
week on September 13, 1996, and four hours per day, five days
per week on November 5, 1996, by Dr. Peter R.
Hindle. Some time thereafter, the employer provided work
for the employee in Duluth, an hour's drive from the
employee's home. The employee would drive one hour to
work, work two hours, and then drive an hour home.
The
employee began treating with Dr. Jed Downs, an occupational
medicine specialist, on February 7, 1997, and on March
4, 1997, Dr. Downs recorded that the employee had concerns of
falling asleep behind...
