Vizcaino, Edward

Edward Vizcaino, a fire captain for the City of Sacramento (permissibly self-insured), was diagnosed with throat cancer (carcinoma of the left tonsil and base of tongue) in December 2020 after exhibiting neck swelling in August 2020. The WCJ found the cancer industrial under the Labor Code section 3212.1(d) firefighter cancer presumption and concluded defendant failed to rebut it. Defendant sought reconsideration, arguing that QME Dr. Mahmoudi's opinion established non-industrial HPV as the sole cause and that the diesel/combustion carcinogen exposure was not reasonably linked to the cancer. The Board affirmed, holding that the QME's opinion rested impermissibly on the mere absence of medical literature linking diesel exposure to oropharyngeal cancer, which is legally insufficient to rebut the presumption. The Board also rejected defendant's latency-period argument, finding the cited study did not exclude the exposure period as the cause.