DAKOTA TUCKER
v.
MAXIM HEALTH INDEMNITY INS CO OF N AMERICA (INA INS), Insurance Carrier ESIS, INC, Claim Administrator
Jurisdiction Claim No. VA00001734891
Claim Administrator File No. C166C2002891
Virginia Workers’ Compensation
Virginia In The Workers’ Compensation Commission
March 19, 2021
Date
of Injury May 29, 2020
Jennifer G. Capocelli, Esquire For the Claimant.
Bryan
Kirchner, Esquire For the Defendants.
REVIEW
on the record by Commissioner Marshall, Commissioner Newman,
and Commissioner Rapaport at Richmond, Virginia.
OPINION
MARSHALL Commissioner
The
defendants request review of the award of temporary total
disability from July 17, 2020 through August 31, 2020 in an
October 28, 2020 Opinion. We AFFIRM.
I.
Material Proceedings
A June
10, 2020 claim alleged an injury by accident to the left
wrist on May 29, 2020. The claimant requested a medical award
and compensation for periods of temporary total and temporary
partial disability.
The
defendants denied the claimant sustained a compensable injury
by accident arising out of and in the course of her
employment. They asserted she was not disabled or impaired to
the extent alleged and denied the medical records supported
the claimed periods of disability. They defended that the
claimant failed to market her residual work capacity while
released to light duty.
The
Deputy Commissioner found the claimant, a travel nurse,
sustained a compensable injury arising out of and in the
course of her employment. On May 29, 2020, the claimant
performed the Heimlich maneuver on a large patient for twelve
to fifteen minutes. She spent approximately five minutes in a
standing position and an additional ten minutes while seated
and supporting his weight with her arm. The Deputy
Commissioner held the evidence supported muscular and nerve
contusions to the left forearm and wrist, a wrist sprain and
radiating symptoms into the fingers of the left hand and up
to the left elbow.
The
Deputy Commissioner awarded temporary partial disability for
May 30, 2020 through June 7, 2020, a period of light duty
work for the employer. Although a July 10, 2020 medical note
released the claimant to regular duty, the Deputy
Commissioner noted “the claimant’s testimony
clarified that that was on a trial basis, but that her
physical therapy assessment revealed nerve issues that were
concerning.” (Op. 8.) She found the medical evidence
and the claimant’s consistent testimony supported
temporary total disability from July 17, 2020 through August
31, 2020.
The...
