Mendoza

Facts And Procedural History In 2012, appellant began employment as a Ventura County Deputy Sheriff and was assigned to the Todd Road Jail Facility. On December 30, 2014, appellant was working at the facility when he slipped while going up stairs, “which caused discomfort in [his] lower back.” On May 27, 2015, he suffered another injury to his back when an inmate he was attempting to subdue, kicked him in the right waist area. On May 20, 2015, appellant underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of his lumbar spine. The MRI film showed degenerative disc disease at the L5-S1 level and a disc herniation abutting the right S1 nerve root. Some of the soft jelly material (the nucleus pulposus) also extruded from the disc at the L5-S1 level and was abutting the right S1 nerve root.

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Labor Code

unless otherwise stated.

2 On June 19, 2015, appellant was examined by Dr. Robert H. Fields, M.D., the State Panel Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME) in appellant’s workers’ compensation case. (See § 4062.2.) Dr. Fields recommended that appellant be referred to a spine specialist and stated there was a “[h]igh likelihood [appellant] will require…