The Third Department determined claimant, decedent’s husband, was entitled to Workers’ Compensation death benefits. Decedent was found on the floor after she had complained of job-related stress and chest pains. Decedent’s death certificate indicated that she died from cardiac arrhythmia due to arteriosclerotic heart disease with obesity as a contributing factor:
Here, there is no dispute that claimant was entitled to the statutory presumption in that decedent suffered a cardiac arrest while working in her office and died shortly thereafter as a result, an event with no known witnesses … . The carrier’s cardiologist reviewed decedent’s medical records and concluded that while it was not certain exactly what happened, decedent’s cardiac arrest was most likely due to preexisting coronary artery disease and was not causally related, finding insufficient evidence that it was due to work-related stress … . This evidence was sufficient to rebut the presumption of compensability, shifting the burden to claimant to demonstrate a causal relationship … .
Claimant presented the report and testimony of an internal medicine physician who reviewed decedent’s medical records and concluded that she had underlying asymptomatic cardiac atherosclerotic disease, and that her work-related stress was a “significant contributing factor” that caused her sudden cardiac death. He relied on the emergency department records and the fact that decedent had no known history of cardiac symptoms or treatment. While claimant’s physician acknowledged that decedent had other cardiac risk factors, such as obesity and a daily smoking habit, decedent’s “work-related illness need not be the sole or even the most direct cause of death, provided that the claimant demonstrates that the compensable illness was a contributing factor in the decedent’s demise”… . Matter of Lavigne v Hannaford Bros. Co., 2017 NY Slip Op 06121, Third Dept 8-10-17
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAW (DEATH BENEFITS, CLAIMANT, DECEDENT’S HUSBAND, WAS ENTITLED TO WORKERS’ COMPENSATION DEATH BENEFITS BASED UPON DECEDENT’S UNWITNESSED DEATH DUE TO CARDIAC ARREST (THIRD DEPT))/DEATH BENEFITS (WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAW, CLAIMANT, DECEDENT’S HUSBAND, WAS ENTITLED TO WORKERS’ COMPENSATION DEATH BENEFITS BASED UPON DECEDENT’S UNWITNESSED DEATH DUE TO CARDIAC ARREST (THIRD DEPT))/CARDIAC ARREST (WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAW, CLAIMANT, DECEDENT’S HUSBAND, WAS ENTITLED TO WORKERS’ COMPENSATION DEATH BENEFITS BASED UPON DECEDENT’S UNWITNESSED DEATH DUE TO CARDIAC ARREST (THIRD DEPT))