73 Van Natta 376 (2021)
In the Matter of the Compensation of LUCY CERVANTES, Claimant
WCB No. 20-00135
Oregon Worker Compensation
April 30, 2021
Unrepresented Claimant
SAIF
Legal Salem, Defense Attorneys
Reviewing Panel: Members Ousey and Woodford.
ORDER
ON REVIEW
Claimant,
pro se,1 requests review of Administrative Law
Judge (ALJ) Mills’s order that: (1) upheld the SAIF
Corporation’s denial of her injury claim for neck and
left shoulder conditions; and (2) upheld SAIF’s denial
of her occupational disease claim for cervical and bilateral
shoulder conditions. On review, the issue is compensability.
We
adopt and affirm the ALJ’s order with the following
supplementation.
In
upholding SAIF’s denials of claimant’s injury and
occupational disease claims, the ALJ found the opinion Dr.
Velarde, the only physician to support compensability, to be
unpersuasive because it was not based on a complete or
accurate history. On review, claimant disputes the
ALJ’s evaluation of the medical evidence. For the
following reasons, we affirm.
To
establish the compensability of her injury claim, claimant
must prove that her alleged September 4, 2018, work injury
was a material contributing cause of her disability/need for
treatment of her neck and left shoulder conditions.
See ORS 656.005(7)(a); ORS 656.266(1); Albany
Gen. Hosp. v. Gasperino, 113 Or.App. 411, 415 (1992). To
establish a compensable occupational disease, claimant must
prove that employment conditions were the major contributing
cause of the cervical and bilateral shoulder conditions. ORS
656.266(1); ORS 656.802(2)(a); Lori M. Lawrence, 60
Van Natta 727, 728 (2008).
[73 Van
Natta 377] Because of the disagreement between medical
experts regarding the cause of claimant’s condition,
this claim presents a complex medical question that must be
resolved by expert medical opinion. See Uris v. Comp.
Dept., 247 Or. 420, 424-26 (1967); Barnett v.
SAIF, 122 Or.App. 279, 282 (1993); Matthew C.
Aufmuth, 62 Van Natta 1823, 1825 (2010).[2] More weight is
given to those medical...
