Hernandez, Javier

Applicant Javier Hernandez, a cow maternity worker, sustained five industrial injuries (four specific and one cumulative) affecting his neck, back, shoulders, knees, and circulatory system (hypertension). The WCJ issued a single joint and several award of 82% permanent partial disability, finding that the disability associated with applicant's hypertension was inextricably intertwined across all injuries and could not be apportioned by date of injury, relying on Internal Medicine QME Dr. Benjamin Simon. Defendant Zenith Insurance Co. sought reconsideration, arguing the hypertension disability should be assigned to a single date of injury rather than issued as a combined award. The Appeals Board denied reconsideration, holding that under Benson and its progeny, where permanent disability cannot be reasonably parceled out among multiple injuries, a combined joint and several award must issue even where other body parts can be apportioned.