Nerissa Watson — ADJ8545914, ADJ969406

Applicant, a Detention Services Officer, sustained an industrial cumulative trauma injury (October 1, 2009 to January 1, 2011) to multiple body parts, including her left knee, right wrist/hand, heart, lungs, psyche, headaches, and gastrointestinal system, arising from a medical cascade in which knee steroid injections/surgery introduced a Staph infection leading to septicemia, endocarditis, open-heart surgery, pacemaker implantation, and ulnar nerve palsy. The WCJ awarded 100% permanent disability based on AME reports (Wertheimer, Hyman, Greils) and vocational expert Vega, finding the multiple injuries 'inextricably intertwined' such that Benson apportionment was impossible, justifying a joint unapportioned award. Defendant sought reconsideration, alleging failure to properly apportion under sections 4663/4664, due process denial regarding cross-examination of AMEs, and that Vega's vocational reports failed Nunes I and Ogilvie. The Board rescinded the Second Amended F&A, deferring permanent disability and attorney fees, and remanded for further development of the record. The Board found the AMEs failed to allocate impairments into the anatomical regions required by section 4664(c) and failed to clarify whether the systemic failures were a new cumulative trauma or compensable consequences of prior treatment.