Opinion ID: 1637264
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Opinions about Leg Condition

Text: Dr. Altsheler examined Landman and found that her legs were swollen with brawny edema. He explained that this condition develops over months or years and indicates that the legs have lost their resiliency. Dr. Altsheler opined that her wound, which had not healed, related to the February 1999 injury. Dr. Altsheler found that venous stasis accounted for the swelling and resulting lesions in Landman's legs. By process of elimination, Dr. Altsheler believed that Landman's 17 years at ICSmoving and standing in the ways she did and in the cold damp environmentcaused her condition. While he admitted she had some element of predisposition, he did not believe her obesity was a contributing factor in the development of venous stasis. Dr. Altsheler did not know when the sequence started, but Landman's condition developed as follows: slowly, over 17 years, the cold conditions at work caused her veins to dilate, and she developed incapacity of the valves, which caused irreversible venous stasis disease. He concluded that when she developed lesions in February 1999 that would not heal, that show[ed] a progression of the venous stasis condition up to that point. The condition has not changed since March 1999.