Opinion ID: 2185738
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: bernhardt's medical history

Text: The record reveals that Bernhardt has a history of medical problems with her hands prior to November 23, 1985, the date of the incident for which she now claims disability. The appellant was in a car accident in 1978, in which she fractured a bone in her right wrist and required surgery. As a direct result of the injuries suffered in the car accident, Bernhardt developed carpal tunnel syndrome in her right hand and underwent surgery for that condition in 1980. Added stress was placed on her left hand during recovery from the right hand surgery. Bernhardt then developed carpal tunnel syndrome in her left hand that required surgery, which was performed 6 weeks after the right hand surgery. Her right hand was weaker and slower than it had been prior to 1978. Bernhardt claims that she compensated for the weakness by using her left hand more than she ordinarily would have. In 1984, the appellant was stabbed in her right hand when she was working for the Game and Parks Commission. On November 16, 1985, 1 week prior to the date of the accident for which she claims disability, Bernhardt was working in the juvenile facility of the Scotts Bluff County Jail when she slammed a jail door shut, spraining her right index finger. In 1988, Bernhardt suffered from tendinitis in her left wrist; distal radioulnar joint degenerative arthritis of her left wrist; and midcarpal instability, or ligamentous laxity between two rows of wrist bones, in her left hand. The appellant underwent two surgeries in 1989 to fuse the wrist bones for treatment of the midcarpal instability. While the fusion relieved most of her pain, she lost some flexibility of her left wrist, rendering her 30 percent permanently disabled in her left upper extremity.