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Bolieu v. Our Lady of Compassion Care Center7/30/1999
[No. 5149 - July 30, 1999]
I. INTRODUCTION
Gwen Bolieu and Bodhmati Oliver appeal the Alaska Workers' Compensation Board's denial of benefits for treatment of rashes that they allegedly contracted while working at Our Lady of Compassion Care Center. The employees argue that the Board improperly limited its inquiry to whether they contracted staph A infections. Because we agree that the Board's inquiry was too narrow, we vacate the Board's ruling and remand for determination of whether the rashes, even if caused by a source other than staph A, were work related.
II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
Gwen Bolieu and Bodhmati Oliver worked as nursing assistants at Our Lady of Compassion Care Center (Our Lady), an Anchorage care facility for long-term, seriously disabled individuals. Bolieu started working for Our Lady in 1988; Oliver began in 1989. Both employees were responsible for such tasks as bathing patients and rendering oral care.
In July and August of 1990 Bolieu, Oliver, and seven other employees at Our Lady developed skin rashes and filed workers' compensation claims. The Director of Quality Management at Our Lady, Kathleen Lum, sent the employees to First Care Medical Clinic to see Dr. Scott Mackie. At no point did a physician come to Our Lady to investigate the employees' rash complaints.
In March and April of 1991 Bolieu, Oliver, and fourteen other employees again filed claims based on skin rashes. On May 21, 1991, Bolieu and Oliver filed occupational illness reports with Our Lady, both citing "skin rash" as the nature of their injury. As a result, Our Lady sent both Bolieu and Oliver to see Dr. Mackie, who diagnosed Bolieu as having a probable case of impetigo and Oliver as having noninfectious dermatitis. In the summer of 1991 Bolieu and Oliver saw their treating physician, Dr. Michael Beirne, who diagnosed them both with staph A infections.
Our Lady began paying Temporary Total Disability (TTD) benefits to Oliver in June 1991 and to Bolieu in July 1991. Oliver stopped receiving TTD benefits when she resigned from Our Lady in November 1991.
In January 1992 Bolieu was treated for an abscess on her breast. Dr. Danny Robinette of Elmendorf Hospital testified before the Board that the abscess was probably related to a staph infection from which Bolieu suffered.
Our Lady then requested that both Bolieu and Oliver be referred to a series of infectious disease specialists for Independent Medical Evaluations (IMEs). In March 1992 Dr. Burton Janis confirmed that Bolieu tested positive for staph A but could not conclude whether or not the infection was work related. In July 1992 Dr. Janis stated that he did not believe Bolieu was ever medically unstable and that he did not think her lesions were work related. He noted that "up to 40% of normal people have staphylococcus aureus [staph A] in their nose." In response to Dr. Janis's report, Our Lady discontinued Bolieu's TTD benefits on August 31, 1992.
Dr. Janis verified that Oliver had resigned from Our Lady because of her skin disorders. Dr. Janis diagnosed Oliver with an infection "probably associated [with a] staphylo ccal species" and possible allergic condition. Dr. Janis stated his belief that Oliver's skin condition was not work related and that she was medically stable on or before March 2, 1992.
Based on Dr. Janis's evaluations, Our Lady sent a controversion notice to Bolieu in September 1992 and to Oliver in December 1992 denying future benefits to both employees. In response, Bolieu and Oliver, through counsel, each filed an Application for Adjustment of Claim alleging that they contracted work-related s
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