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Compass Useac v. Kennedy5/30/2003
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
OPINION AFFIRMING
Compass USEAC petitions for review of an opinion of the Workers' Compensation Board that affirmed a decision of an administrative law judge awarding Kaye Kennedy permanent partial occupational disability benefits. We affirm.
Kaye Kennedy was born in 1965, has a ninth grade education, and has worked primarily in the food service industry. She has been employed by Compass since 1997, first as a prep cook and then as a full cook at a cafeteria operated by Compass for employees at the Paducah atomic energy plant. On April 18, 2000, while placing frozen food stock into a walk-in freezer, Kennedy slipped and fell on ice injuring her back, hip, and left leg. Due to intense pain, she went to the hospital emergency room where she was given some medication. Shortly thereafter, she was referred to Dr. Monte Rommelman, a certified rehabilitation physician.
Dr. Rommelman examined Kennedy on May 8, 2000, and reported some tenderness to palpation along the lumbar paraspinals bilaterally and decreased lumbar flexion greater than extension. He noted that a CT scan of her lumbar spine on April 25, 2000, was negative for fracture or disk herniation. He prescribed various medications and an outpatient physical therapy program, and he released her to return to work without restrictions. Dr. Rommelman saw Kennedy again on June 6, 2000, noting some tenderness to palpation over the left sacroiliac joint. He diagnosed sacroiliac dysfunction and recommended that she use a TENS unit and sacroiliac joint belt for support of her pelvis.
Following Kennedy's complaint of continued low back and left leg pain, Dr. Rommelman administered three sacroiliac joint cortisone injections on September 7, 2000, October 24, 2000, and April 27, 2001, which provided only temporary relief. On July 11, 2001, Kennedy went to Dr. Rommelman indicating her pain had become much more severe, so he placed her back in a physical therapy program with three weeks off work. On August 1, 2001, Dr. Rommelman released Kennedy to work with restrictions of lifting no more than 20 pounds occasionally or 10 pounds frequently, no repetitive twisting, bending or stooping, and no prolonged standing or walking. In follow-up visits in August and October 2001, Kennedy continued to complain of low back pain with minimal relief from the physical therapy program, the TENS unit, and the sacroiliac belt. Kennedy returned to work performing only light duty tasks. When she could not perform the lighter work, she was assigned to bookkeeping duties but left her job because she was not educated or qualified for that type of work.
Prior to the April 2000 incident, Kennedy had been treated by Dr. William Hogancamp, a neurologist, in 1999-2000 for a variety of conditions including low back and left leg pain with an unknown etiology. Dr. Hogancamp's notes indicate that Kennedy had developed significant low back pain with radicular left leg pain in September 1999, which moderated with medication. On April 10, 2000, eight days before Kennedy fell, Dr. Hogancamp diagnosed low back pain with left sacroiliitis and recommended physical therapy and a referral for pain management treatment. Kennedy decided not to pursue pain management at that time. However, on April 25, 2000, following her fall, she notified Dr. Hogancamp's office that she needed a referral for pain management treatment.
On July 27, 2001, Kennedy was evaluated by Dr. Theodore Davis, a neurosurgeon, upon referral by Compass. His examination revealed straight leg raising unrestricted on the right to about 80°, but Kennedy expressed pain after 60° on the left and resisted any dorsiflexion of the foot. She tired wi
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