Interference with Medical Care Results in Employer's Loss of Right to Control Care
In what the deputy described as what may have been the longest alternate medical care hearing ever before the agency, the employer was found to have "actively interfered" with the care recommendations made by the treating doctor. Dodge v. Excel Corp./Cargill Meat Solutions , No. 5032411 (AMC April 27, 2010). The physician had restricted claimant to sitting duty only, with her leg elevated. As a part of her light duty work, claimant was made to sit in an 8 x 10 foot room with as many as 11 other workers, and she testified that the nurses at Cargill never check her status. Despite attempts by claimant to have the doctor change her work status and place her off work, the doctor indicated his hands were tied by the employer's indication that it had suitable work for the claimant. Although claimant's arguments were primarily about the treatment she had received at the hands of the employer, she also argued that the employer had interfered with the medical judgments...