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Igawa v. Koa House Restaurant2/2/2001
more than three years of total disability had resulted from the 1991 industrial accident. Nor did the Statement dispute the DLIR's order that the Employer pay for the remedial surgery.
At the September 29, 1997 appeal hearing, Igawa was the only live witness to testify. Igawa testified that after his 1975 fall, he received seven years of active treatment and medication for its sequelae from Dr. Joseph Tsai. By the end of the seven years, however, his seizures and blackouts ceased and he stopped taking medication.
Igawa further testified that he now takes Dilantin for his seizures, "Tylenol Codeine" for headaches and Triazalon for sleeping problems and for pain. Igawa also claimed that he is depressed and seldom socializes because of problems with his headaches, his arm and his leg. He also suffers from dizziness or lightheadedness, blurred vision, clumsiness and continuing blackouts. Igawa described his most recent blackout, which occurred one month before the hearing. He had been walking to his friend's car when he became lightheaded and "went down," injuring his wrist in the fall.
Igawa maintained that he no longer has the strength to work in his yard because his arm "bothers" him, that he has trouble concentrating, that he forgets things "real bad," that Dr. William T. Tsushima treated him for suicidal ideation for a period after the 1991 industrial accident occurred, and that he has lost twenty-five to thirty pounds due to lack of appetite.
Igawa further testified that, although he had experienced headaches after his 1975 accident, the headaches had remitted, at least from the time he stopped his medications in 1980, until his 1991 work injury. After the 1991 work injury, Igawa began to suffer daily, lingering headaches. Igawa testified that he had not been on medication for "almost ten years until this accident."
On cross-examination, Igawa admitted that he had encountered problems with his co-workers before the 1991 work injury, but claimed that "everything got worse" after the accident.
With respect to Igawa's scar, Igawa's counsel pointed out new suture marks from a remedial, post-surgery procedure. Igawa testified that the scar had become a "lot wider" as a result of the post-surgery procedure.
On the same day as the hearing, the Employer submitted its post-hearing Position Statement. The Employer argued that Igawa's PPD benefits should be "limited to 5% of the whole person, which has already been paid by Employer/Carrier subsequent to the Order granting Stay of Payments in Part issued . . . on August 26, 1996." The Employer also argued that disfigurement benefits should be limited to $850.00.
On March 30, 1999, the Board rendered the Decision, in pertinent part:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. On October 3, 1991, Claimant, who was employed as a cook by Employer, sustained a compensable head injury when he reached overhead for a pot and another pot about two feet above his reach fell and struck him in the right forehead. Claimant was dazed, but did not lose consciousness.
2. In August 1975, Claimant sustained a significant head injury when he fell into a drainage ditch and was knocked unconscious.
Claimant was evaluated both neurologically and neurosurgically, with no significant sequelae found at that time. In the fall of 1976, however, Claimant began to exhibit abnormal behavior, including hallucinations, deja vu experiences, and time distortions.
In December 1976, an EEG was normal, but a brain scan showed an abnormality in the right frontoparietal area and a CT scan showed right frontal and temporal lesions. Claimant was seen by Dr. Stan
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