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Watson v. Fastrack Construction Inc.6/6/2005
Jacqueline Watson appeals two decisions of the Industrial Accident Board involving two separate claims of injuries one involving her knee and the other her back. The Board granted the petition of her employer Fastrack Construction to terminate benefits as to her knee injury but denied Watson' s Petition for Determination of Compensation Due as to a back injury claim. Both decisions of the Board are AFFIRMED.
Procedural History
On March 29, 2004, Fastrack filed a petition for review asking the Board to determine whether Watson was physically able to return to work referencing a May 19, 2003 work injury. That was the date of a knee injury. The Petition for Termination of Benefits was designated #1233953. Watson later filed a petition to determine compensation due for total disability on June 24, 2004. This petition was designated #1236476 and related to a claimed low back injury. A hearing was scheduled on July 12, 2004, in response to Fastrack' s Petition for Review. A continuance was granted.
A second hearing was held on September 13, 2004. In its September 27, 2004 decision, the hearing officer (" the Board") ruled that Watson conceded her knee injury had resolved and that she was able to return to work. Her benefits for that injury were terminated as of the date Fastrack filed its petition . The Board then addressed Fastrack' s petition and held that Watson did not meet her burden of proving that an injury occurred on July 30, 2003 and that she was not entitled to total disability benefits. It denied Watson' s petition to determine compensation due. Her subsequent Motion for Reargument was denied on November 17, 2004.
Facts
On May 19, 2003, Watson tripped over drywall and injured her right knee and inner thigh. A MRI indicated a torn meniscus. Surgery to repair the injury to her right knee was performed on August 4, 2003, by Dr. Craig Morgan. As to the knee injury, Watson was released to full-duty work on November 6, 2003. Dr. Robert Smith, an orthopedic surgeon examined Watson a few days later on behalf of Fastrack and concurred she was able to return to work as far as the recovery from the knee injury. Since that time Watson has not been treated for the injury to her right knee.
While awaiting surgery on her knee, Watson returned to work at Fastrack to do sedentary/light duty work. This work entailed organizing and filing papers. On July 30, 2004, Watson was asked to move and count door sets in boxes stacked four high. After counting and numbering the sets, she was to return the sets to the boxes and then return the boxes to the original location. This job took forty-five minutes to one hour. She claimed she sustained an injury to her back while lifting the boxes.
Initially Watson went for an x-ray at the Emergency Room of Delaware Hospital because she could not stand up straight and her knee was swollen. The x-ray was negative. She received medication and was told to contact her family doctor, Dr. John Moore. He took her off work. He prescribed a muscle relaxer as well as physical therapy at this office. The therapy involved stretching, ball exercises and massages. Watson stated that neither the medication nor the treatment helped her. Watson then went to Dr. Kenneth DeGroot, a chiropractor, to whom she was referred by a friend. There she did heat and water therapy as well as stretching exercises. She stated that these treatments did not help her.
Dr. Moore then sent her to Hands on Health where she received hand and body massages and exercises, some of which she was to do at home. She stated that this treatment would help her for about one hour but then the symptoms would return.
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