71 Van Natta 398 (2019)
In the Matter of the Compensation of KENNETH R. PARKINSON, Claimant
WCB No. 17-05163
Oregon Worker Compensation
April 11, 2019
Glen J
Lasken, Claimant Attorneys
Sather
Byerly & Holloway, Defense Attorneys
Reviewing Panel: Members Woodford and Lanning.
ORDER ON REVIEW
The
self-insured employer requests review of Administrative Law
Judge (ALJ) Kekauoha’s order that set aside its denial
of claimant’s occupational disease claim for bilateral
hand and wrist conditions. On review, the issue is
compensability.
We
adopt and affirm the ALJ’s order with the following
supplementation.
In
setting aside the employer’s denial, the ALJ determined
that the opinion of Dr. Hoblet, claimant’s treating
orthopedic hand specialist, persuasively established that
claimant’s work activities as a “chamber”
welder were the major contributing cause of his bilateral
hand and wrist conditions. Accordingly, the ALJ concluded
that the claimed conditions were compensable occupational
diseases.
On
review, the employer contends that Dr. Hoblet’s opinion
is unpersuasive because he did not adequately consider the
relative contribution of claimant’s Type II diabetes or
a “potential” inflammatory arthritis condition.
For the following reasons, we disagree.
To
establish a compensable occupational disease claim, claimant
must prove that employment conditions were the major
contributing cause of his bilateral hand and wrist
conditions. ORS 656.266(1); ORS 656.802(2)(a); Lori M.
Lawrence, 60 Van Natta 727, 728 (2008). The major
contributing cause is the cause, or combination of causes,
that contributed more than all other causes combined.
McGarrah v. SAIF, 296 Or. 145, 166 (1983); Deitz
v. Ramuda, 130 Or.App. 397, 401 (1994), rev
dismissed, 321 Or. 416 (1995).
Determination
of the major contributing cause is a complex medical question
that must be resolved on the basis of expert medical opinion.
Jackson County v. Wehren, 186 Or.App. 555, 559
(2013) (citing Uris v. Comp. Dep t , 247 Or. 420...
