RODNEY WOLTERS, Employee/Petitioner,
v.
CURRY SANITATION, INC., and MINN. WORKERS’ COMP. ASSIGNED RISK PLAN (EMPLOYERS INS. OF WAUSAU, A MUT. CO.), ADMIN’D BY RTW, INC., Employer-Insurer/Respondents.
No. WC18-6207
Minnesota Workers Compensation
Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals
April 2, 2019
VACATION
OF AWARD – SUBSTANTIAL CHANGE IN CONDITION. The court
concludes that the employee’s petition has failed to
demonstrate a substantial change in medical condition
sufficient to warrant vacation of two successive awards on
stipulation.
Kerry
O. Atkinson, Atkinson Law Office, Arden Hills, Minnesota, for
the Petitioner.
Timothy J. Manahan, Brown & Carlson, P.A., Minneapolis,
Minnesota, for the Respondents.
Determined by: Deborah K. Sundquist, Judge, David A.
Stofferahn, Judge, Sean M. Quinn, Judge.
Petition
to Vacate Denied.
OPINION
DEBORAH K. SUNDQUIST, Judge.
The
employee has petitioned this court to vacate Awards on
Stipulation served and filed on April 2, 1990, and April 3,
1997. We conclude the employee has failed to establish cause
pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 176.461 and deny his petition.
BACKGROUND
Rodney
Wolters, the employee, sustained an admitted low back injury
on July 9, 1987, while working as a garbage hauler for Curry
Sanitation, Inc., the employer, at a weekly wage of $385.00.
The injury resulted in back pain and pain shooting down the
left leg. A CT scan on September 15, 1987, showed mild
degenerative facet joint disease at multiple levels, a mild
annular bulge at L4-5 which was not thought to be of clinical
significance, and no evidence of nerve compression. Following
unsuccessful conservative treatment the employee was referred
to Dr. Charles Burton who initially saw him on January 15,
1988, and diagnosed chronic mechanical low back pain, lumbar
degenerative disc disease, lumbar facet joint arthropathy at
multiple levels, and an early chronic pain syndrome. Dr.
Burton noted that the employee was 100 pounds overweight and
recommended a monitored weight reduction program and a pain
program. He also recommended that the employee discontinue
smoking.
The
employee was then treated by Dr. Thomas Hennessey at Abbott
Northwestern Hospital through epidural steroid injections and
facet nerve blocks. A September 1988 discography performed by
Dr. Burton indicated abnormal morphology at L4-5 and L5-S1
and suggested that the employee’s primary painful disc
was at L5-S1. Based on the discography, Dr. Burton
recommended lumbar fusion surgery at the L5-S1 level. The
employee was then seen by an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Jerry
Reese, who diagnosed chronic low back strain with
degenerative disc disease at L5-S1. Dr. Reese stated that he
would be reluctant to perform a lumbar fusion based solely on
a discogram, which he deemed subjective.
The
employee then saw Dr. Robert Wengler, another orthopedic
surgeon, on October 6, 1988. Dr. Wengler diagnosed a lumbar
disc herniation at L5-S1 for which he rated the employee with
a 14 percent permanent partial disability (PPD). He
recommended surgery in the form of an open exploration of the
L5-S1 disc with the decision whether to fuse the disc to be
based on the degree of instability noted at the disc during
the surgery.
The
employee eventually underwent surgery performed by Dr.
Wengler on December 12, 1988. Dr. Wengler concluded during
the surgery that fusion was not necessary and instead
performed a laminectomy and discectomy.
Following
surgery, the employee had an initial reduction in back pain,
but within a year of the operation he experienced a
recurrence of back pain and thereafter continued to
experience significant low back and left leg pain. He was
treated for chronic pain and then released to work with
restrictions limiting him...
