Casillas, Jose

Jose Casillas, a 60-61 year old warehouseman, sustained an admitted specific left knee injury on May 22, 2018 and claimed a disputed cumulative trauma (CT) injury to bilateral knees, shoulders, heart, cardiovascular system, and hypertension, resulting in his death from cardiopulmonary arrest on September 1, 2021. His surviving spouse/dependent, Amparo Casillas, pursued accrued and death benefit claims, arguing the death was industrially caused by work stress, NSAID use for knee pain, and a sedentary lifestyle. The WCJ found the death non-industrial, relying on the PQME opinion of internal medicine/cardiology specialist Dr. Olga Voroshilovsky over the applicant's consultative reports from Dr. Marvin Pietruszka, who failed to review 17 years of Kaiser medical records documenting longstanding poorly-controlled hypertension, alcohol abuse, smoking, and medication non-compliance. The Appeals Board denied reconsideration, adopting the WCJ's Report, holding that Dr. Voroshilovsky's opinion constituted substantial evidence while Dr. Pietruszka's did not, and that no further development of the record was warranted.