Jennifer Dance — ADJ16439951

Applicant Jennifer Dance, a librarian for the City of Burbank (permissibly self-insured), was found to have sustained an industrial psychiatric injury arising from being a victim of or directly exposed to a violent act. Defendant sought reconsideration, arguing the treating physician's reports were not substantial evidence because the psychiatric condition was diagnosed under the DSM-V rather than the DSM-IV. The WCAB rejected this argument, noting that Labor Code section 3208.3(a) references the DSM-III-R and permits use of other nationally accepted diagnostic manuals, and that even defendant's own QME used the DSM-V. The Board granted reconsideration but affirmed the finding of industrial injury, amending it to specify injury to the 'psyche' rather than to specific diagnoses, and deleted the finding regarding the substantiality of QME Dr. Baba Singh's reports because substantiality affects weight, not admissibility.