Miller v. Enlivant, 073020 IDWC, IC 2018-018070

• Case Date: July 30, 2020
• Court: Idaho

HEIDI MILLER, Claimant, v. ENLIVANT, Employer, And ARCH INSURANCE COMPANY, Surety, Defendants. No. IC 2018-018070 Idaho Workers Compensation Before the Industrial Commission of the State of Idaho July 30, 2020          FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND ORDER           Thomas P. Baskin, Chairman          INTRODUCTION          Pursuant to Idaho Code § 72-506, the Industrial Commission assigned this matter to Referee Douglas A. Donohue who conducted a default hearing in Boise on February 19, 2020. Randall Schmitz represented Claimant. Claimant presented documentary and testimonial evidence. She waived filing a written brief in favor of closing oral argument. The case came under advisement on February 19, 2020. Additional documentation was submitted by Claimant on April 21, 2020 and July 9, 2020. This matter is ready for decision.          ISSUES          The issues to be decided as amended at hearing are: Whether and to what extent Claimant is entitled to:

1. medical care and

2. attorney fees;

         At hearing, Claimant limited her issues to medical care, including future medical care, and attorney fees. All other issues, being unripe because Claimant has not reached medical stability, are reserved.          CONTENTIONS OF THE PARTIES          Claimant contends she is entitled to benefits.          Defendants have not filed an Answer or entered an appearance.          EVIDENCE CONSIDERED          The record in the instant case included the following:          1. Oral testimony at hearing of Claimant; and          2. Exhibits A through T,          3. Additional medical billing information designated Exhibit U, and          4. Proposed Judgment designated Exhibit V.          The Referee has submitted proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law for the approval of the Commission. The Commission has reviewed the same, along with the testimony and evidence of record. The Commission declines to adopt the proposed decision and hereby issues these findings of fact and conclusions of law and order.          FINDINGS OF FACT          1. Claimant began working for Employer, Enlivant, at its Heron Place facility, in June of 2016. Heron Place is a 40-bed assisted-living facility located in Nampa, Idaho. Claimant was employed as the facility’s life enrichment coordinator. Her duties included frequent rearranging of furniture in the facility’s common areas to accommodate various activities. She described these responsibilities as follows:

A. So, the community is fairly small in the space, so many rooms had to serve multi-purpose and the main living area, common area, had couches and chairs set up for living and if I had entertainment I would have to rearrange the room and we had entertainment twice a week. Exercise daily. Rearrange the room. Get the couches out of the way, the chairs in place, so that they could do exercise. Shuffleboard. Rearrange the room. Bowling. Rearrange the room. Bingo. Rearrange the room. So, it was two to three times a day that I was rearranging the room.

Q. And do you know how heavy this furniture is?

A. I didn’t weigh it.

Q. Is it heavy?

A. Well, it's – I would rather not have moved the tables. The couches were on casters, but the tables were heavy.

Tr. 10:12 – 11:3.          2. Claimant’s employment at Heron Place came to an end in late June of 2017. After leaving Heron Place, Claimant took a job at another assisted living facility. At her new job, her responsibilities do not include moving furniture. Tr. 11:21 – 12:1.          3. On September 14, 2016, Claimant was injured in an automobile accident while getting stamps from the post office within the course and scope of her employment.          4. Claimant reported the accident and injury and sought medical care that same day.          5. Claimant received conservative medical care from Drs. Barbara Quattrone and Stephen Martinez, chiropractic care from Dr. Rosie Main, and physical therapy from Jack Morris. During the course of her medical care she continued working. Surety accepted and paid medical care for neck and back injuries sustained in the car crash.          6. Claimant testified, and the medical records reflect, that her initial symptoms were of neck and low back pain. Tr. 12:12-17; Clt. Ex. C at 29; Clt. Ex. A at 1. She did not begin to develop right shoulder pain until sometime in November of 2016. Tr. 13:10-14; Clt. Ex. A at 1. Notwithstanding that her right shoulder pain did not arise until some months after the accident of September 14, 2016, Claimant nevertheless related her right shoulder symptoms to the motor vehicle accident by the following path:

A. So, it – as I was working and accommodating for my difficulties due to the back and neck injury, I was using more my upper torso, my shoulders and my arms to move the furniture throughout the community and it just started hurting and more and more to the point that I could no longer close my bra and I could not lift my arms when I would teach exercise class, I couldn’t participate with my residents, because I just couldn’t do the movements.

….

Q. Okay. What – at that time what did you think was causing – or what had caused the shoulder injury?

A. The more work in adjusting my posture and movements to accommodate my other injuries.

Q. Okay. And did you think that was related to the motor vehicle accident or to –

A. Yes, I did.

Q. Okay.

A. I thought it was a chain reaction.

Tr. 13:17-25; 14:19 – 15:2.          7. Claimant gave a similar account to Dr. Quattrone on April 3, 2017: “[Claimant] notes the shoulder hurts all the time. It hurts to do overhead activity. She at times has numbness in her fingers. This is intermittent. [Claimant] notes that she was using her arm more to lift things to not hurt her back and this is why she thinks it hurts now.” Clt. Ex. A at 1. It does not appear that Dr. Quattrone ever endorsed Claimant’s theory of causation.          8. Dr. Martinez took a slightly different history of onset from Claimant:

[Claimant] presents for follow-up. She was last seen in the occupational medicine clinic on 12/13/16. At that time, she was being treated for a neck sprain and a back sprain. She was referred to Dr. Quattrone (physiatry) for further management of her condition. She developed right

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