Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 3, 1993 TAG: 9304030038
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
LOST HAND NOW MEANS LOST HOPES
A woman whose hand was severed by a packaging plant machine said a state official's rejection of her workers' compensation claim "hit me hard" and may halt medical care she needs to regain use of her reattached hand."It's tough, it really is, to think I might have to give up my recovery," said Loretta Shelton, 22.
"It's scary to think I might never have a decent-paying job. I don't want my family to have to take care of me. When I have a child, I want to be able to pick it up."
The accident happened last May while Shelton was operating a machine at Brown Products-Southern in Axton. The machine cuts thick cardboard pads used to protect furniture during shipping.
She put her hand in the machine to adjust a piece of cardboard when the blades engaged and cut her right hand off at the wrist.
It was her second week on the job. Shelton said she was improperly trained to operate the machine, which she said was missing a safety shield.
Deputy Commissioner John Costa of the Roanoke office of the Workers' Compensation Commission ruled that Shelton willfully violated a safety rule and is ineligible for compensation for missed pay and medical expenses.
Costa based his ruling on evidence presented at a hearing in which supervisors and other employees at Brown testified that it is a safety violation for workers to reach inside the cutting chamber of the machine.
Shelton's lawyer, C. Lonnie Kinder of Roanoke, said he will ask the three-member commission to review the ruling Wednesday.
Kinder said the next step would be the Virginia Court of Appeals.
"I have never had to take one that far, but for this girl I will. I intend to take it as far as law will allow me," he said.
"I can't understand the ruling, but these cases are tough," said Kinder, who has defended injured workers for 20 years after defending employers in compensation cases for five years. "In Virginia, the laws . . . favor the employers."
Commission spokesman Lawrence Tarr said, "The law strikes a very fair balance." He said "a very small percentage" of claims are rejected, such as Shelton's, on the basis of willful misconduct.
Shelton, who was laid off as an emergency medical technician in Martinsville before taking the factory job, said her surgeon has advised her not to work while going to physical therapy three or four days a week. With the therapy and six operations, her medical bills exceed $250,000.
She is living with a friend near Roanoke, where she is undergoing therapy, and has been driving once every two weeks to Winston-Salem, N.C., to see her surgeon, who wants to perform two more operations.
"I got a little movement in my fingers from my last surgery, but they say without my therapy, it really was pointless to have my hand put back on," she said.