MLB Investments dba B&E Feed & Supply; Truck Insurance Exchange Carlos Urrea WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIACARLOS URREA, Applicant,vs.MLB INVESTMENTS dba B&E FEED & SUPPLY; TRUCK INSURANCEEXCHANGE, Defendant(s).Case No. ADJ3897698 (ANA 0370975)OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING RECONSIDERATION ANDDECISION AFTER RECONSIDERATION Applicant seeks reconsideration of the Findings and Order of November 16, 2009, in which the workers’ compensation judge (WCJ) found that applicant sustained industrial injury to his low back on or about January 22, 2002, that applicant did not sustain industrial injury as a result of the self-procured back surgery that occurred on December 3, 2003, that the surgery was not a compensable consequence of the industrial injury of January 22, 2002, and that the spinal surgery performed by Dr. Fonseca was neither reasonable nor necessary to cure or relieve the effects of the industrial injury. Pursuant to these findings, the WCJ ordered that defendant is not liable for any of the costs associated with the low back surgery performed by Dr. Fonseca, and that defendant is not liable for surgery to remove hardware placed in applicant’s back at the time of surgery on January 22, 2002. Applicant contends that the medical opinion of Dr. Feiwell, the Agreed Medical Evaluator (AME), supports a finding that applicant is entitled to removal of the hardware, that Dr. Fonseca’s alleged malpractice is irrelevant to the issue of whether defendant is liable for removal of the hardware, that defendant is liable for consequences of treatment received by an injured worker for an industrial injury, and that the fact that the surgery performed by Dr. Fonseca was unnecessary does not excuse defendant from liability for subsequent treatment. , Defendant filed an answer.- The WCJ submitted a Report and Recommendation, which we do not adopt or incorporate except for its description of the following stipulated facts:
Menu
