What the panel ordered
The Findings and Award issued on November 6, 2020, is rescinded and the matter is returned to the trial level for further proceedings consistent with the opinion.
Applicant seeks reconsideration of the Findings and Award issued on November 6, 2020, by the WCJ, which is now rescinded and the matter returned to the trial level for further proceedings.
What was disputed, and how it came out
Each issue the panel decided, with the reasoning it gave. An outcome is what this panel did on this record — not a rule, and not a prediction.
The WCJ's assignment of body parts to body systems under section 4664(c) was not supported by substantial medical evidence, and the parties did not present the dispute directly to the evaluators for opinion on body systems, requiring further development of the record.
From the decision · page 1Applicant seeks reconsideration of the "Findings and Award" (F&A) issued on November 6, 2020, by the workers' compensation administrative law judge (WCJ). The WCJ found, in pertinent part, that applicant sustained an industrial injury on a cumulative basis through May 13, 2012 to the following body parts: "cognitive impairment, psyche, gait, hypertensive heart disease, apraxia/agnosia, headaches, erectile dysfunction, GERD, bilateral lower extremities (DVT), vision, sleeping, hypertension, and brain." (F&A, p. 1.) The WCJ further found that the disability in the form of sleep, cognitive, and psyche are categorized as mental and behavioral disorders under Labor Code1 section 4664(c)(1)(C). The WCJ categorized the following disabilities under the general provision of section 4664(c)(1)(G): hypertension, erectile dysfunction, GERD, deep- vein thrombosis of the bilateral lower extremities, gait derangement, apraxia, agnosia, and headaches.