Stranak, Steven

Steven Stranak sustained an admitted cumulative industrial injury through May 13, 2012 affecting numerous body parts and systems, including cognitive impairment, psyche, gait, hypertensive heart disease, apraxia/agnosia, headaches, erectile dysfunction, GERD, bilateral lower extremity DVT, vision, sleep, hypertension, and brain. The WCJ categorized the various disabilities into body 'regions' under Labor Code section 4664(c), assigning DVT, gait, apraxia, and agnosia to the general catch-all region under subsection (c)(1)(G), which applicant disputed, arguing DVT and gait belonged under the lower extremities region (F) and apraxia/agnosia under mental and behavioral disorders (C). The Appeals Board held that assignment of a disability to a body region under section 4664(c), where disputed, is a medical question that must be supported by substantial medical evidence rather than a commonsense lay determination. The Board rescinded the F&A and remanded for development of the record, instructing the parties to present the list of section 4664(c) body systems to the medical evaluators for opinion on which systems each impairment affects.