Sanders v. Durham County Hospital

CourtNorth Carolina Industrial Commission
DecidedDecember 11, 2000
DocketI.C. NO. 736197
StatusPublished

This text of Sanders v. Durham County Hospital (Sanders v. Durham County Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Carolina Industrial Commission primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sanders v. Durham County Hospital, (N.C. Super. Ct. 2000).

Opinion

The Full Commission has reviewed the prior Opinion and Award based upon the record of the proceedings before Deputy Commissioner Wanda Blanche Taylor and the briefs and oral arguments before the Full Commission. The appealing party has not shown good ground to reconsider the evidence, receive further evidence, rehear the parties or their representatives, or amend the Opinion and Award. Accordingly, the Full Commission affirms and adopts, with modifications, the Opinion and Award of the Deputy Commissioner.

***********

The Full Commission finds as fact and concludes as matters of law the following, which were entered into by the parties as:

STIPULATIONS
1. All parties are properly before the Industrial Commission and are subject to and bound by the provisions of the Workers Compensation Act. The Commission has jurisdiction of the parties and of the subject matter, and an employer-employee relationship existed between plaintiff and defendant at all relevant times.

2. All parties have been correctly designated, and there are no questions as to misjoinder or nonjoinder of parties.

3. Defendant was self insured, and there are no questions as to insurance coverage of the parties.

4. Plaintiffs average weekly wage is $627.49, yielding a compensation rate of $418.35.

5. Plaintiff suffered a compensable injury by accident to her back and left knee on August 18, 1997 as a result of a slip and fall while she was working in the employment of defendant.

6. The parties stipulated into evidence as Stipulated Exhibit 1, without need for further authentication or verification, a packet of documents including plaintiffs medical records, Industrial Commission forms and Defendants Answers to Plaintiffs First Set of Interrogatories and Request for Production of Documents.

Defendant filed a Form 60, Employers Admission of Employees Right to Compensation, dated April 21, 1998, admitting plaintiffs right to compensation for an injury to her left knee at a compensation rate of $418.35. Defendant filed a Form 60, Employers Admission of Employees Right to Compensation, on January 21, 1999, admitting plaintiffs right to compensation for injury to her left knee and back at a compensation rate of $418.35 per week.

Based upon all the competent evidence of record and the reasonable inferences flowing therefrom, the Full Commission makes the following:

FINDINGS OF FACT
1. At the time of the hearing before the deputy commissioner, plaintiff was 55 years old, having been born May 6, 1943. Plaintiff had completed high school and obtained degrees as an LPN and as an LRN. Plaintiff had been employed at UNC Memorial Hospital for approximately ten years and two months before retiring on December 31, 1994. Plaintiffs entire career as an operating room technician, LPN and LRN had all been in the operating room; when she retired from UNC Memorial she retired as a supervisor in the operating room.

2. In February 1995, plaintiff became employed with Durham Regional Hospital, defendant, as a staff nurse in the operating room. The duties were similar to those plaintiff performed during her career at UNC Memorial. Plaintiffs duties consisted of preparing the room for operation, participating in the operation, preparing patients for operation, transporting patients, scrubbing, assisting in anesthesia and other duties. The physical requirements of plaintiffs job required her to move patients, equipment and supplies as well as to clean and mop rooms. Plaintiff worked eight-hour shifts but often worked longer into the night, at times 24 hours, depending upon the available staffing and the procedure being performed. Plaintiffs job required that she be on her feet almost constantly.

3. Plaintiff initially worked full time with defendant, but after approximately one year, due to personal preference, decreased her hours to four days and then to three days one week and four days the next week. Plaintiff was working this schedule on August 18, 1997.

4. In March 1995, plaintiff had returned, at the request of her former supervisor, to a part-time desk job at UNC Memorial Hospital reviewing payroll reports for accuracy. This job came about because her previous supervisor there called her and asked her to help them out by doing payroll auditing for the department. In that job, she would review the employees pay reports to make sure that they were correct. She was a pencil pusher. Plaintiff worked at this job twelve to fifteen hours per two-week period from March 1995 through May 2, 1998. Plaintiff was at liberty to set her own hours at the UNC Memorial position.

5. On August 18, 1997, plaintiff suffered an admittedly compensable injury by accident when she slipped and fell in the dressing area of the operating room while working for defendant. Plaintiff was wearing new shoe covers, which slipped out from under her, and she hit the floor, the wall and a bench, injuring her back and left knee.

6. Defendant sent plaintiff to Dr. David Dellaero, an orthopedic surgeon, for treatment. On October 16, 1997, plaintiff underwent an arthroscopic partial menisectomy for a meniscus tear, which was performed by Dr. Dellaero. On December 10, 1997, plaintiff presented to Dr. Dellaero with complaints of back pain and was referred by him to Dr. Wilson, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, who prescribed physical therapy and pain management at Southwind Spine Rehab Center.

7. Plaintiff was released to return to light duty with restrictions on April 15, 1998 by Dr. Dellaero. Plaintiff was instructed to return to work to a sedentary position with defendant, and she did so on April 20, 1998. The job was a modified job that was two hours a day for five days a week. Plaintiff was instructed to begin work at 8 a.m. daily and was not allowed to set her own hours. Plaintiffs modified position was a data entry position. She tried this job for thirty days at two hours per day. Her back and knee were giving her difficulty as she tried to work and the muscle spasms in her back were unbearable. Due to the pain medication making her drowsy, she was unable to take any medication for her condition during work.

8. The modified Durham Regional job was a data entry position that was different from her part-time UNC work because of the set hours and the daily requirement. At her UNC job, she was able to set her own hours, sometimes allowing seven or eight days between working. At UNC, she would work mostly on weekends when fewer people were there. At UNC, if the pain was unbearable one day, she would wait until she was having a better day to go to work. The modified Durham Regional job did not allow that freedom, so the pain got to such a point that she could no longer deal with it.

9. On August 14, 1998, Dr. Dellaero found plaintiff to be at maximum medical improvement and was of the opinion that plaintiff retained a 15% impairment to her left knee and a 5% impairment to her back and was not a candidate for back or knee surgery.

10. Plaintiff experienced continued back and knee pain as she attempted her return to work with defendant. Plaintiff began having severe muscle spasms in her back, but due to her pain medication making her drowsy, was unable to take any medication for her condition during her return to work.

11. At the end of thirty days of going to work at Durham Regional and dealing with the pain, she had an appointment with her primary care physician, Dr. Coleman. At that time, her knee was still bothering her, but her back problem was the worst. Upon learning of the pain she was in, Dr. Coleman took her out of work and referred her to pain management at Duke. At this point, Ms.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Kennedy v. Duke University Medical Center
398 S.E.2d 677 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1990)
Watkins v. Central Motor Lines, Inc.
181 S.E.2d 588 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1971)
Dalton v. Anvil Knitwear
458 S.E.2d 251 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1995)
Saums v. Raleigh Community Hospital
487 S.E.2d 746 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1997)
Calhoun v. Wayne Dennis Heating & Air Conditioning
501 S.E.2d 346 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1998)
Dalton v. Anvil Knitwear
462 S.E.2d 507 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Sanders v. Durham County Hospital, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sanders-v-durham-county-hospital-ncworkcompcom-2000.