Sarah Archie v. S & R of Tennessee, A/K/A Siegel

This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated Section 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting of findings of fact and conclusions of law. As stated by counsel for the appellant in oral argument, this appeal raises only one issue: Whether the evidence preponderates against the trial court's award of thirty percent (3%) permanent partial disability to the left arm and fifteen percent (15%) permanent partial disability to the right arm. Plaintiff is a 46 year old woman who worked for the employer for 19 years. At the time of her injury, which is not disputed, her duties were to remove five to seven pound parts from one line, inspect them and place them on another line. She began experiencing pain in her hands and was referred by the employer to Dr. D. J. Canale, who diagnosed her condition as compatible with carpal tunnel syndrome. On July 27, 1993, he operated on her left hand, which was causing her the most problem. He allowed her to return to work on September 13, 1993. He felt that she had done well and had no permanent physical impairment. She still complained of pain on November 4, 1993. He noted that she used a drill or press at work which she had to grab with both hands and had to lift stock off of an assembly line, although she did not have to do repetitive acts with the left hand. He felt that it was possible that she had some mild arthritis. He last saw her on December 8, 1993, at which time she was apparently not without symptoms and he felt that she was developing some sort of arthritic symptoms or tendonitis. He felt that her conditions were "related to her job." He recommended that she avoid repetitive stress on the hand and wrist, specifically any job that required forceful flexion of the wrist in a repetitive fashion over a number of hours in the day, and said that she would be at risk of having additional problems if she did such motions. Claimant's attorney referred her to Dr. Robert Christopher, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, for evaluation. He saw her on May 17, 1975. In his opinion the repetitive motion activity at work aggravated her preexisting condition of rheumatoid arthritis, resulting in the complaints of constant pain in the left hand with 2