BILL CARROLL, Employee,
v.
UNIVERSITY OF MINN., SELF-INSURED/SEDGWICK JAMES OF MINN., Employer-Insurer/Appellant,
and
GROUP HEALTH PLANS, INC., and CAPITOL ORTHOPEDICS, LTD.
Minnesota Workers Compensation
Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals
May 4, 1999
HEADNOTES
CAUSATION
- SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Given the employee's history
of pre-existing left knee problems and a non-work-related
injury to the left knee in a motorcycle accident and the
absence of an adequate medical opinion tying the
employee's work injury to the knee condition of patella
chondromalacia and surgery therefrom, substantial evidence
does not support the compensation judge's conclusion that
the employee's work injury caused or contributed to the
employee's patella chondromalacia, the resultant knee
surgery and disability.
CAUSATION
- GILLETTE INJURY. Where there was evidence of
the employee's work activities consisting of continuing
use of his arms and shoulders and other manual labor, and the
employee's treating medical reports and evidence support
a finding that the employee's work activities contributed
to his shoulder injury, substantial evidence supports the
compensation judge's finding of causation of a
Gillette injury.
Affirmed
in part and reversed in part.
Determined by Hefte, J., Wilson, J., and Johnson, J.
Compensation Judge: Harold W. Schultz, II
OPINION
RICHARD C. HEFTE, Judge
The
self-insured employer, University of Minnesota, appeals from
the finding that the employee's May 28, 1998 surgery to
his left knee for chondromalacia patella and disability
thereafter was caused or substantially contributed to by the
employee's work injury of October 5, 1995; and appeals
from the finding that the employee sustained a
Gillette1-type injury which culminated in
September 1997. We affirm in part and reverse in part.
BACKGROUND
Bill
Carroll, the employee, was working for the self-insured
employer, University of Minnesota, as a ventilation mechanic
on October 5, 1995 when he claims he sustained a work-related
knee injury which eventually caused surgery to his left
knee. His primary duties in this job were to perform
preventive maintenance on heating and ventilation equipment
such as unit heaters, fan systems and air
conditioners. The employee claims he twisted and injured
his left knee while exiting a ventilation unit after cleaning
cooling coils on October 5, 1995. The employee has given
other versions as to how this injury occurred, and gave
various medical histories of his left knee problems prior to
October 5, 1995. At the hearing, the employee admitted
that he injured his left knee in a motorcycle accident in May
of 1986. However, the compensation judge found that the
preponderance of the evidence is that the employee did
sustain a work injury to his left knee on October 5, 1995
which contributed to his knee surgery. The employer does
not contest the finding that the employee sustained a sprain
or strain to his left knee while working on October 5,
1995. The employer does maintain that there is a lack of
substantial evidence to support the finding that the
employee's left knee work injury of October 5, 1995
causally contributed to the eventual diagnosis of
chondromalacia patella2 of the employee's left knee, the
employee's resultant left knee surgery of May 28, 1998
and any disability therefrom.
Following
his work injury in 1995 the employee initially saw Dr. Arthur
Wineman, his family physician and gave him a history of
having had intermittent knee pains over a period of several
years. Thereafter the employee was seen for an
orthopedic consultation and treatment by Dr. Randy
Twito. The employee gave Dr. Twito a history of twisting
his left knee at work on October 5, 1995; however, the
employee did not mention any pre-existing left knee problems
to the doctor. The employee complained of pain in the
medial joint line to Dr. Twito. The doctor testified
that he initially felt, based on the history given by the
employee and where the employee complained of pain in his
left knee, that the employee's October 5, 1995 left knee
injury resulted in a mild strain to the medial collateral
ligament. Dr. Twito recommended an MRI of the
employee's left knee. The MRI results were negative
for a meniscus or ligament tear, but did show a mild to
moderate chondromalacia in the patella. Two and one-half
years after his left knee injury, on May 28, 1998, Dr. Twito
performed surgery on the employee's left knee, reporting
that the surgery was for the employee's chondromalacia
patella condition. He reported the surgery to be an
arthroscopic chondroplasty, retropatellar surface trochlear
groove femur and resection plica.
As to
his left shoulder, the employee saw Dr. Wineman in April of
1997 and noted...
