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Messersmith v. University Of Missouri-Columbia9/25/2000
Appeal From: Labor and Industrial Relations Commission
Opinion Vote: REVERSED AND REMANDED. Parrish, P.J., and Shrum, J., concur.
Opinion:
The Employer appeals in this workers' compensation case from the final award of the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (Commission), which affirmed and incorporated by reference the decision of the administrative law judge (ALJ). The ALJ determined that Glenda Messersmith (Claimant) sustained a work-related injury and that she satisfied the notice requirements of section 287.420 in reporting her injury.
Employer's dispositive point contends that Claimant's failure to comply with the notice requirements of section 287.420 bars her from maintaining this action under chapter 287. Employer alleges the Commission erroneously found that Claimant had good cause for noncompliance with the statute and that Employer was not prejudiced thereby. We agree with Employer.
Claimant began working as a licensed practical nurse (LPN) for Employer, the Mt. Vernon Rehabilitation Center, in October 1996. On December 25, 1996 (the Christmas incident), Claimant was assisting a stroke patient in a wheelchair who needed to go to the bathroom. During the process, the patient fell on Claimant's right neck and shoulder. Claimant felt a "very sharp stabbing pain" down her left arm. The pain subsided after Claimant placed the patient on the toilet. However, Claimant found it necessary to call another LPN to assist her in placing the patient back in the wheelchair. Claimant cannot recall the name of the patient or the LPN involved in the incident.
Two or three days later, Claimant again suffered pain down her left arm which "just got more and more severe" as "time went on." Three weeks after the Christmas incident Claimant went to her family practitioner, Dr. Pegram, for problems with her left arm. Dr. Pegram indicated that Claimant most likely had a pulled muscle. Claimant testified she did not relate the details of the Christmas incident to Dr. Pegram because she did not know of any injury to her left arm muscle.
After a period of conservative treatment, Dr. Pegram referred Claimant to an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Olive. Claimant admitted she initially did not tell any of her medical care providers that her left arm injury was work-related. Further, Claimant could not recall to her healthcare providers any specific trauma which caused her left arm pain. Claimant explained that she did not report the accident or trauma because she could not think of any incident which injured her left arm muscles.
Between January 22, 1997, and January 27, 1997, Claimant attempted to work with her left arm in a sling as recommended by Dr. Pegram. As of January 22, 1997, Claimant had not missed any work days after the Christmas incident. On January 27, 1997, the last day Claimant worked for Employer, Patti Nash, Claimant's supervisor, informed Claimant that she could not fulfill LPN duties with her arm in a sling. Claimant admitted that as of January 27, 1997, she had not reported any injury to Employer or completed a written accident form.
On January 30, 1997, Claimant agreed that she spoke on the phone with Ms. Nash and told her she would be undergoing physical therapy for about two weeks. Claimant told Ms. Nash that she had no idea how she was injured and that she did not remember any pull, pop, or pain. Claimant specifically told Ms. Nash that she did not hurt herself at work. Eventually, Claimant told Ms. Nash, on February 10, 1997, that she must have hurt herself lifting or pulling a patient at work.
After X rays were taken on February 14, 1997, Dr. Olive informed Claimant that sh
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