TRACY MANN, Employee,
v.
GRAND RAPIDS MEDICAL ASSOCS. and DODSON INS./ADJUSTMENT SERVS. UNLIMITED, Employer-Insurer/Appellants,
and
CONCORDIA COLLEGE and PREFERRED RISK MUT. INS. CO., Employer-Insurer,
and
MN DEP'T OF LABOR & INDUS./VRU and BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD OF MINN., Intervenors.
Minnesota Workers Compensation
Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals
April 7, 1999
HEADNOTES
CAUSATION
- GILLETTE INJURY. Substantial evidence
supports the compensation judge's determinations that a
causal relationship existed between the employee's work
activities at GRMA and her Gillette injury, and that
the employee's later work activities for the Concordia
College food service did not substantially contribute to her
disability or need for medical treatment.
GILLETTE
INJURY - DATE OF INJURY. The compensation judge
reasonably found that July 26, 1995, when the employee first
sought medical treatment for her upper extremity symptoms and
was prescribed wrist splints which she subsequently wore in
order to perform her job, was a date on which ascertainable
events occurred which marked the culmination of the
employee's injury.
CAUSATION
- INTERVENING CAUSE. The compensation judge reasonably
concluded that the employee's activity in lifting a pan
of chicken out of her oven, at which time the employee
sustained the onset of a temporary aggravation to her
work-related condition, was a reasonable and normal activity
of daily living and that it thus did not constitute an
intervening and superseding cause of the employee's
disability and medical care during the period of aggravation.
PERMANENT
PARTIAL DISABILITY - WEBER RATING. An award of
6% PPD, rated pursuant to Weber v. City of Inver Grove
Heights, 461 N.W.2d 918, 43 W.C.D. 471 (Minn. 1990), for
"repetitive overuse syndrome" reversed where
employee had full range of motion and normal motor and
sensory exams, there was no positive electrodiagnostic test,
and where the employee documented an insufficient degree of
impairment of function to justify the rating given by the
compensation judge by analogy to Minn. R. 5223.0470, subp.
2B.
ECONOMIC
RECOVERY COMPENSATION. The compensation judge's
alternative award of 26 weeks of economic recovery
compensation pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 176.101, subd. 3t(b),
was clearly erroneous where there was no dispute that the
employee continued to perform her job with the employer
following the injury, and eventually left the job not because
she was medically unable to perform the job, but to pursue
her professional career after graduation from
college. The employee was not "unable to return to
former employment for reasons attributable to the
injury", and did not qualify for 26 weeks of impairment
compensation under the applicable statute.
TEMPORARY
BENEFITS - SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Minimally sufficient
evidence was present to support the awards of temporary
benefits in this case.
Affirmed
in part and reversed in part.
Determined by Wilson, J., Pederson, J., and Wheeler, C.J.
Compensation Judge: Gary P. Mesna
OPINION
STEVEN
D. WHEELER, Judge
Employer
Grand Rapids Medical Associates and its insurer appeal from
the compensation judge's findings that the employee
sustained a compensable Gillette
injury1 culminating in disability on July 26,
1994. The appellants also appeal from the denial of
apportionment against the employer Concordia College and its
insurer, from the determination that the employee sustained a
three percent permanent partial disability and from the
awards of temporary benefits. We affirm in part and
reverse in part.
BACKGROUND
The
employee, Tracy Mann, began working for the employer Grand
Rapids Medical Associates ("GRMA")[2] in about June
1991, following her junior year in high school in Grand
Rapids, Minnesota, working full time during summers and
school breaks. Her job consisted of various clerical
duties, including switchboard work, taking appointments,
filing, entering account information into a computer, and
tearing apart billing statements. She testified that
these job duties generally required repetitive use of the
hands. After the employee graduated from high school in
1992, she attended Itasca Community College for two years and
then began attending Concordia College in 1994, but continued
to work in her job for GRMA during summers and
holidays. (T. 40-48; Exh. 2.)
On or
about July 20, 1994, the employee began to experience pain
and numbness in her hands at work while operating a
switchboard. Since she had an appointment scheduled for
July 26, 1994 with Dr. Jack Carlisle at Grand Rapids Medical
Associates for a college physical examination, she waited to
seek medical attention for her hands until then. Dr.
Carlisle's notes for the date of that appointment state
that the employee reported concern over numbness in her hands
at work, particularly when working on the computer. On
examination, Tinel's sign was positive and Phalen's
sign was equivocal. Dr. Carlisle suspected an early
carpal tunnel syndrome. He suggested wrist splints, but
he and the employee decided to hold off splinting at that
time as the employee would try to spend less time on the
computer at work and would be off work and returning to
school at the end of August. However, the employee
returned the next day and was provided with wrist
splints. She reported the problem to her supervisor,
Ione Boor, as work related, but no first report of injury was
prepared. She wore the wrist splints at work for the
remainder of the summer, and at home whenever her wrists
bothered her. She continued to experience a dull, aching
pain in the hands and wrists, and occasionally experienced
numbness, tingling and shooting pains which sometimes
extended to elbow or even shoulder level. She
self-treated for the pain with Advil and by applying
ice. (T. 31-33, 48-54; Exh. 5: 7/26/94.)
The
employee attended school at Concordia College during the
1994-1995 academic year. She testified that she
continued to have a dull, aching pain and some numbness and
tingling. In approximately October 1994 the employee
began working for the food service at Concordia in a
part-time job seven hours per week. She characterized
this work as somewhat heavier than the work for GRMA, with
more repetitive use of the hands. However, she did not
wear her wrist splints during the food service job because
they interfered with wearing gloves and keeping sanitary
conditions during food preparation. The employee
testified that she wore the wrist splints much of the time
outside of this part-time job while at school. She did
not return for medical treatment for her upper extremity
symptoms during the school year except for one occasion on
May 15, 1995, when she was seen by Dr. Carlisle and reported
that she had experienced pain behind the elbow for a few
days. The employee related that she had not been
performing repetitive or unusual activities other than brief
periods of typing, although the pain had worsened for a short
period following typing. Dr. Carlisle diagnosed triceps
tendinitis. (T. 55-63; Exh. 5: 5/15/95.)
The
employee testified that her symptoms did not significantly
change until about October 26, 1995. On that date, she
experienced a shooting pain in the right hand while taking a
pan of chicken out of the oven at her apartment. She was
seen by Dr. Ron Wiisanen at the Heartland Medical Center in
Fargo, North Dakota, on October 27, 1995. Dr. Wiisanen
noted some swelling in the right hand on examination, and
some crepitus with movement. Tinel's sign was
negative and no fracture was apparent on x-rays. Dr.
Wiisanen diagnosed a probable right wrist tendinitis. He
recommended that the employee wear splints, take naprosyn,
use ice and heat and elevate her wrists. The employee
was seen by Dr. Wiisanen for a recheck on October 31,
1995. She reported that pain at night was much relieved
but that she was still experiencing stiffness particularly
when writing or typing. No crepitus was present but
Tinel's sign was positive on that date. (T. 63-65;
Exh. 6.)
The
employee testified that her doctors recommended that she not...
