Opinion ID: 2972151
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Bilateral Thumb Pain

Text: Initially, we address Moon’s claim to the extent it relates to her thumb condition. We have very little to go on because the parties’ briefs discuss this issue only in a cursory fashion. The administrative record presented Unum with various evidence relating to Moon’s bilateral thumb pain but no definitive medical opinion regarding Moon’s ability to work. As our discussion below indicates, this is in contrast to the record regarding hypertension. Dr. Watson’s original physician’s statement from the September 2001 claim indicated that Moon’s thumb pain severely limited her activity. In addition, the record contained two depositions of Moon’s hand surgeon, Dr. James Smith. Smith was deposed in May 1999 and February 2001 pursuant to Moon’s worker’s compensation claim against Borgess. In the February 2001 deposition, Smith asserted that it would be difficult for Moon to work but admitted in cross examination that in his various examinations of Moon during 1999 and 2000, he permitted her to return to work and did not recommend specific restrictions that would conflict with her ability to perform her duties. Moreover, the record shows that Moon was last examined by Smith on May 25, 2000; subsequent to that examination, Moon returned to work at Borgess. The record further shows that the precipitating cause of Moon’s medical leave, which commenced on June 16, 2000, was her labile hypertension. In sum, the administrative record does not suggest that Moon would have been unable to work solely on account of her thumb pain even if her doctors were able to ameliorate her hypertension.1 As it was, however, her doctors were not able suppress the hypertension; it is to a discussion of this issue that we now turn.