The employee was born in 1955 and lives in Barnhart. She is not employed and was last employed on January 3, 2005. After her November 4, 2004 accident, the employee attempted to return to work but was unable to do so. She is 5 " 6 " tall and weighs 175 pounds. On November 4, 2004, she weighed about 150 pounds, and has put on the weight due to low physical activity.
The employee testified that she had motor vehicle accidents in 1981 and 1986 where she was rear ended. She injured her neck in both accidents. She has had physical problems in her neck and right shoulder and knee. She also had migraines from the accidents. She missed time from work due to the neck, shoulder and migraines. It made her jobs more difficult.
The employee testified at the deposition that she turned down overtime due to the pain. She received assistance from coworkers due to the neck and shoulders. Prior to 2004 she did not have any difficulties performing her job duties because of her right shoulder and neck and worked through the pain. The employee testified at the hearing, she was at a loss why she would have said those things.
The employee testified that in 1986 she was on a porch which collapsed, she fell about 15 feet and injured her ankles and left foot. She fractured a bone in her left foot and tore ligaments in both ankles. Her left foot was put in a cast and her right foot was wrapped. She continued to have ongoing problems with both ankles including swelling. Her left ankle still sprains easily. Her right foot still has bone chips which caused problems.
In her deposition, the employee testified that she had no problems walking or sitting but did have problems standing due her feet. She did not feel that she needed to lie down during the day due to the pain. The employee testified at the hearing that she did not remember saying that at the deposition. In her deposition, the employee testified that her ankles caused her problems in performing the duties of her job; she received help with her job, turned down overtime, and missed time from work.
The employee testified that prior to her November 4, 2004 accident, she had neck, ankle, and shoulder problems which caused her to miss work and restricted her activities including lying down during the day. The employee testified in her deposition that prior to November of 2004, she had physical problems doing her job with her neck, shoulder, right knee and feet. When asked if she worked through or missed work, she testified she just worked in pain.
The employee testified that she had suffered from depression all of her life. She had nightmares, mood swings, and depression. As a child she cried herself to sleep. In school, she
had trouble with math and spelling, and was in special classes. She had poor grades in school and had a learning disability which was later diagnosed as attention deficit disorder. Her father was illiterate which was quite upsetting. She quit school in the $8^{\text {th }}$ grade, and got married at age 15. She eventually got her GED and received training as a certified nurse's assistant in 2003 from the nursing home she worked for. She continued to have problems with her depression and learning disability.
The employee testified after she married in 1970, she did not work until 1995 when she worked as a cashier at Wal-Mart. She worked there for about two years but had trouble due to her mental and physical problems including attention deficit disorder. She had anxiety being around a lot of people and had trouble weighing products. She then worked at Children's World as a day care assistant. She helped with feeding, changing, lifting and sitting with children. She had neck and knee problems from lifting. It was mentally stressful due to being responsible for 15 children. She worked there about two years and left to work at a Baptist Church as a preschool attendant that did not require any lifting. She taught children but there was a lot of stress. She worked there for a year or two until she lost her job due to being fired for falling asleep at the job. She was sleeping due to too much pressure both mentally and physically.
She then worked at Partner's Financial Company as an office worker. She answered phones and copied checks but was unable to enter records into the computer. She was reprimanded 3 or 4 times because she could not answer the phone and do something else at the same time. She could not get the right pattern in copying checks. There were a lot of pressures, and after 9 months, she was terminated. She then worked at Jefferson County Job Service and her job was to hand out medication. She had trouble giving right doses, gave out the wrong dose sometimes, and sometimes did not give the dose at all. The employee had physical problems which made it hard to clean out cabinets and work with patients. She was terminated from her job and started working at Hillcrest Nursing.
The employee testified that she received treatment for her psychological difficulties. In the late 1990's, she was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and bi-polar disorder. Due to the PTSD, the employee thought she was going crazy and her body shook. She could not drive, could not concentrate or form a sentence. She was having consistent problems in the late 1990s and early 2000s. She had panic attacks, which involved sweating, dizziness, tunnel vision, nausea, and trouble concentrating. She missed time from work due to PTSD which also affected her job performance. She had to get assistance from co workers. Due to her bi-polar disorder, the employee had terrible mood swings,