Ruiz, Juan Carlos

Applicant Juan Carlos Ruiz sustained an admitted head injury (and claimed neck injury) on January 20, 2018 while working as a construction laborer. After designating multiple primary treating physicians within defendant's MPN over many months, applicant was unable to obtain actual treatment because authorized doctors were not accepting workers' compensation patients or were not at their listed locations. The WCJ found that while applicant failed to prove the MPN violated access standards, defendant neglected to provide medical treatment by never arranging an initial appointment despite knowing of applicant's difficulties, entitling applicant to treat outside the MPN at defendant's expense. The WCAB denied defendant's Petition for Reconsideration, adopting the WCJ's Report and Opinion, and also noted defendant's failure to cite to the record with specificity as an additional ground for denial under CCR section 10945.