The parties presented evidence at a hearing on August 30, 2016. Employee appeared in person and with her attorney, Patrick Platter. Employer/Insurer appeared through their attorney, Assistant Attorney General Cara Harris. The parties presented six issues for determination:
1) Whether Employee's right shoulder complaints arise out of and in the scope of her employment;
2) Medical causation of Employee's right shoulder complaints;
3) The nature and extent of permanent disability attributable to Employee's neck injury and right shoulder injury, if it is found to be a compensable injury, with Employee alleging she is permanently and totally disabled. The parties agreed should permanent total disability benefits be awarded, those benefits would start as of November 12, 2013;
4) Whether Employer/Insurer are responsible for past medical bills incurred by Employee with Employee alleging Employer/Insurer are responsible for a total of $\ 55,054.69 in past medical; with $\ 39,407.26 related to past medical care for her neck and $\ 15,647.43 related to her right shoulder;
5) Whether Employer/Insurer are responsible to provide Employee with future medical care related to her neck and/or her right shoulder; and
6) Whether Employee gave Employer notice of and the opportunity to provide her with medical care related to any injuries which are found to be compensable.
7) Employee's attorney, Patrick Platter, seeks an attorney fee of 25 percent.
The record was left open for thirty days for the parties to present additional exhibits on a timeline of events and a breakdown of the past medical expenses sought.
Employee called her husband, Don Estes to testify on her behalf. Mr. Estes and Employee wed in the Philippines in 1969, where she was born. Mr. Estes testified that Employee was hired by the state to work at the Veterans Home in 1996. He noticed her health began to change in September 2011 when she sustained a back injury working at the Veterans Home. Mr. Estes testified that Employee sometimes has problems with expressing herself in written communication, and he has helped her write some letters to the Veterans Home and has also attended some meetings with personnel at the Veterans Home.
Employee testified on her own behalf. She was born on October 5, 1950, and at the time of the hearing was 65 years old. She was educated through the sixth grade in the Philippines. After marrying Mr. Estes and moving to America in 1979, Employee was steadily employed until November 2013 when she retired from the Veterans Home.
She moved to Missouri in 1994 and worked three months at Tyson's and two months at Little Tykes. She quit her job at Tyson's because hanging the chickens was hurting her shoulders, and she was unable to do the heavy work at the pace they wanted. She left the job at Little Tykes when the plant closed.
Employee next worked for the State of Missouri at the Veterans Home in Mount Vernon on the 2:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. shift in housekeeping. She worked with a partner, Erlinda for fifteen years. They worked four days a week together and two days a week alone. On the days they both worked, they did the heavier cleaning; and, on the days apart, each did lighter cleaning and emptied the trash.
Employee described her duties at the Veterans Home, part of which included collecting trash and taking it to the dumpster. Employee testified that the Veterans Home used 55-gallon bags for trash when she started, but the size was changed to 40-gallon bags after an inspection. She estimated picking up trash took her 45 minutes per shift. She testified while she picked up trash in several areas, the bags from the shower rooms were the heaviest. Employee admitted she was uncertain regarding the change in trash bag size, and it could have been from 40 to 30 gallons. She also testified that she never weighed the trash, and her estimates on how much the trash weighed, are just that, "estimates."
Her duties also included at times bending and kneeling on the floor to scrub the edges of the hallway floor. She testified that when she got down on the floor, she had difficulty getting back to her feet because of her knee problems. She would have to use the handrail bars along the hallway to get up. Employee had a prior knee injury in the 1990's, that resulted in surgery with a screw being placed in her knee. As a result of this prior injury, Employee left the job she had at that time because of difficulty going up and down stairs. Prior to the January 27, 2012, injury to her neck, Employee had problems walking. She wore a compression stocking on her knee; and her standing was limited to 45 minutes to one hour.
Employee cleaned the public bathrooms (when her partner was not there), cleaned toilets twice a day, did dusting and cleaned showers "once in a blue moon." She estimated she spent three hours per shift mopping, sweeping and vacuuming.
On Thursday, September 15, 2011, Employee injured her low back while working at the Veterans Home. She reported this injury to her supervisor, and paperwork regarding the injury was completed on Saturday September 17, 2011. Employee was seen in the Emergency Room on September 18, and she followed up with Dr. Galligos for treatment. Employee testified that since this injury occurred, she has had constant low back pain and that her husband had to massage her low back after work at least three days a week. She also had problems sitting for long periods of time following this injury, especially on car rides due to low back pain.
Prior to the January 27, 2012, injury, Employee suffered from her 1990's knee surgery and her continuing problems from it, the September 2011 low back injury and continuing problems from it as well as other health problems including cataracts (which caused her to have headaches), kidney and gallstones (which caused her to miss time from work), swelling in her hand (which caused her to give up crocheting and resulted in her being put on Meloxicam), and bunions on her feet (which caused her to miss time from work and required surgery in 2012.)
On Friday, January 27, 2012, Employee was cleaning the break room sink at the Veterans Home when she tilted her neck such as to cause her to have pain in her neck and such that she "saw stars." This happened at approximately 10:30 p.m., just twenty-three minutes before her the time records show she clocked out for the night. Employee first testified she told a supervisor named Lynette (last name unknown) about the incident that night and that she was given paperwork to fill out; however, she does not know what happened to that paperwork. In a handwritten letter to her Employer dated February 27, 2012, Employee references the January 27
event and states she told a supervisor of this incident "a couple of days after." (Exhibit 13). Employee later testified that she was uncertain exactly when she first told a supervisor about the neck pain.
Employee had the same neck pain twice the next day, Saturday (January 28), while at home, and once on Monday (January 30) while being treated at the dentist office. Employee's regular days off were January 28 and 29. She took sick leave for herself on January 30 and 31, and she took a combination of sick leave and annual leave on February 1. Employee saw her family doctor, Dr. Watts, on January 31. She saw Dr. Watts becau