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Hill v. Fleetguard10/28/2005
Claimant appeals denial of permanent partial disability compensation benefits. AFFIRMED.
Janice Hill appeals from a district court's judgment affirming the denial of permanent partial disability workers' compensation benefits by the industrial commissioner. Hill claims the district court erred by ignoring the deputy's determinations of witness veracity. We do not reach this issue because we find it was not properly preserved for appellate review. Hill also claims the commissioner injected unsupported material facts into his decision. We find Hill's substantial rights were not prejudiced by these alleged errors. Hill also challenges the commissioner's conclusion that Hill suffered no permanent disability. We find there was substantial evidence to support the commissioner's decision and affirm the district court.
I. Facts and Prior Proceedings
Hill had been out of the workforce for twenty years before she began her employment with Fleetguard, Inc. During this time she was treated for numerous medical conditions. Hill consulted various doctors complaining of pain in her chest, abdomen, back, neck, shoulder, as well as numbness and tingling in her right thumb. Between 1982 and 1998 she was diagnosed with cervical strain, lumbosacral strain, degenerative cervical osteophytes (bone spurs), and costochondritis (inflammation of the rib joints, and attachments of intercostal muscles to the ribs). She was also diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse, a heart condition which she treated with medication as needed. Doctors prescribed treatment ranging from ibuprofen and heating pads to more advanced treatments such as pain medication, anti-inflammatory medication, physical therapy, and cervical traction. Hill had approximately twenty different visits to various doctors, including two trips to the Mayo Clinic, relating to pain in her neck, back, and chest.
In November of 1998, Hill, at the age of forty-nine, reentered the workforce as an assembler on the production line at Fleetguard. Hill rotated amongst different positions on the line assembling, inspecting, and packaging filters. She soon found the filters she was required to handle on one part of the line were too heavy, and caused her chest pains. In January of 1999, she went to her primary care physician, Dr. Susan Sieh, for this latest episode of chest pain. Dr. Sieh recommended she change to a less weight-intensive part of the assembly line. Her supervisor followed this request and moved her to a welding machine off the assembly line.
Hill eventually moved back to the assembly line placing center tubes in filters. After only three weeks she returned to her doctor complaining of chest pain. Her doctor took her off work and recommended she refrain from activities that exacerbated the pain.
Hill returned to the Mayo Clinic for cardiac evaluation in October of 1999 and was diagnosed with musculoskeletal chest wall pain and a minimal mitral valve prolapse. In January of 2000, she was assigned to work on center tubes again. Two weeks later she returned to the doctor because of "musculoskeletal chest pain due to her work." Her doctor told her to never work on center tubes again. Hill returned to work at various positions, ranging from the assembly line to the welding machine. Hill began to develop right hip, leg, and back pain, from the repetitive motion of pressing the welding machine foot pedal ten times per minute, or approximately 4800 times per shift.
Hill returned to the doctor complaining of discomfort in her right leg. Her doctor diagnosed sciatic neuritis (burning pain or numbness and tingling that runs down the back side of the leg) and prescribed new medication along with physic
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