What the panel ordered
The Board rescinded the prior Findings of Fact and Award and issued a new award reflecting 34% permanent disability without apportionment, adjusting attorney fees accordingly.
Applicant sought reconsideration of the Findings of Fact and Award issued on July 28, 2022, by the WCJ, which found 17% permanent disability with 50% apportionment to nonindustrial causes. The WCJ filed a Report recommending denial of reconsideration. The Board granted reconsideration to study the issues further.
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 Board found that the PQME's apportionment opinion lacked substantial medical foundation and did not comply with the required detailed causation analysis, thus defendant failed to meet its burden of proof on apportionment.
From the decision · page 5Here, PQME Dr. Finkelberg identified applicant's underlying congenital pars defects, a condition creating a structural weakness in the vertebrae, which concentrates mechanical stress during normal or repetitive spinal motion. This predisposition can lead to stress fractures of the pars, or spondylolysis, and, over time, allow forward slippage of the vertebra, or spondylolisthesis, and progressive degenerative changes. (AMA Guides, Table 15-3, p. 384.) Although he diagnosed a fracture related to the pars defects, PQME Dr. Finkelberg did not provide the detailed causation analysis required to link it to specific nonindustrial permanent disability. Instead, he concluded that the fracture required a "more serious injury" than pushing chairs or tables, yet offered no clinical evidence supporting his assumption that the disabling symptoms otherwise arose from repetitive, naturally occurring motions.