LORETTA E. NELSON, Employee,
v.
ENGINEERED POLYMERS CORP. and CIGNA INS. CO., Employer-Insurer,
and
SCIMED LIFE SYS, INC., SELF-INSURED/COMPCOST, INC., Employer/Appellant.
Minnesota Workers Compensation
Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals
April 6, 1999
HEADNOTES
APPORTIONMENT
- EQUITABLE; APPORTIONMENT - GILLETTE
INJURY. The compensation judge erred in apportioning
liability for the medical expenses attributable to a single
Gillette injury where there was not almost
uncontroverted medical opinion as to apportionment, as
required by Michels v. American Hoist & Derrick,
269 N.W.2d 57, 31 W.C.D. 55 (Minn. 1978). Equitable
apportionment for wage loss attributable to two separate
injuries may be appropriate, but a remand is required for
further findings as to causation and the equitable
apportionment factors delineated in Goetz vs. Bulk
Commodity Carriers, 303 Minn. 197, 226 N.W.2d 888, 27
W.C.D. 797 (1975).
MAXIMUM
MEDICAL IMPROVEMENT - SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Substantial
evidence, including the employee's treating doctor's
testimony, supported the compensation judge's decision as
to MMI.
TEMPORARY
TOTAL DISABILITY - SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Where there was
no evidence that the employee failed to cooperate with
rehabilitation assistance, which was directed toward
investigation of retraining, and where there was no evidence
that job search was raised as an issue to the compensation
judge, the judge's conclusion that the employee was
entitled to temporary total disability benefits through 90
days post-MMI would not be reversed, despite the fact that
the employee apparently failed to make any search for work
during the period in question.
Affirmed
in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
Determined by Wilson, J., Johnson, J., and Hefte. J.
Compensation Judge: Janice M. Culnane.
OPINION
DEBRA
A. WILSON, Judge
SciMed
Life Systems, Inc., appeals from the compensation judge's
equitable apportionment of liability for wage loss and
medical expenses, from the judge's decision as to maximum
medical improvement, and from the judge's conclusion as
to the employee's entitlement to temporary total
disability benefits. We affirm in part, reverse in part,
and remand for further proceedings.
BACKGROUND
The
employee began working for SciMed Life Systems, Inc. [SciMed]
in May of 1991. Her job duties for this employer
involved work known as "crimping" or "crimp
bonding," a process in which the employee, looking
through a microscope, attached valves to heart catheters,
using a syringe filled with glue. The employee, who is
right-handed, held the syringe in her right hand, using her
right thumb to depress the plunger to apply the glue.
At some
point the employee began experiencing symptoms in her right
index finger, starting with an enlarged knuckle, which her
treating physician, Dr. Matthew Putnam, diagnosed as
"trigger finger" or flexor
tenosynovitis. Conservative care failed to alleviate the
symptoms, and on February 27, 1992, Dr. Putnam performed
surgery in the nature of an "A-1 pulley release and
limited flexor tenosynovectomy." Dr. Putnam
ultimately concluded that the employee could not return to
crimp bonding and had sustained a 3.6% permanent partial
disability of the whole body1 due to her trigger finger
condition, which he attributed to her work at
SciMed. SciMed, self-insured, admitted liability for a
work-related right index finger injury occurring on November
14, 1991.
Following
her recovery from surgery, SciMed provided the employee with
light work, which the employee left for reasons unrelated to
her right index finger injury in about July 1992. Over
the next several years, the employee held jobs at Fingerhut
and a casino, neither of which required repetitive work with
her hands. The employee sought little or no additional
treatment for any hand, wrist, or index finger symptoms
during this period; according to her testimony at hearing,
the symptoms from the November 1991 injury resolved
completely after she left SciMed.
On or
about August 27, 1996, the employee began working for
Engineered Polymers Corporation [EPC] in a job that primarily
involved sanding pieces of plastic with a power sander, which
she gripped with her hands. This job was full time and
included substantial overtime. Within a few weeks, by
mid September 1996, the employee began experiencing bilateral
upper extremity symptoms, including tingling and burning in
her fingers, wrist pain, pain shooting up into her arms, and
a ripping or tearing sensation in her palms. These
symptoms increased as time went on, especially after thirteen
straight days of work, and, finally, on October 8, 1996, the
employee sought treatment. Physicians eventually
diagnosed bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, and on December
20, 1996, the employee filed a claim petition alleging
entitlement to wage loss and medical expense benefits from
EPC due to "repetitive trauma syndrome - right and left
hands." The employee underwent carpal tunnel
release surgery on the right on February 10, 1997, and on the
left on May 19, 1997. Dr. Putnam performed both
procedures.
The
employee began receiving rehabilitation assistance in August
of 1997. She took a housekeeping job at the Hinkley
Casino on November 15, 1997, but she left the job after about
a month because it allegedly exceeded the restrictions
recommended by Dr. Putnam. The employee then apparently
underwent physical therapy for several weeks, after which her
QRC investigated retraining. On March 30, 1998, the
employee enrolled in a pharmacy technician program.
EPC and
its insurer paid...
