| JCC Hedler (West Palm Beach) (Rex Hurley) (1-10-24)– Denied compensability of claimant’s disabling arterial and cardiovascular hypertension and/or heart disease. The E/C successfully rebutted the presumption by showing that a combination of non-work risk factors including HBP, uncontrolled long-standing diabetes, hyperlipidemia, obesity, smoking, family history and other risk factors caused the condition, disability and need for treatment. The claimant completed two days of 12-hour shifts and went to dinner. After dinner, he enjoyed a normal night’s rest when he was awoken at 2:00 am with cramping, chest pains, nausea and vomiting. He was taken to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed with a heart attack. He underwent multiple defibrillations and had a stent implanted. He remained in the hospital for three days. The JCC accepted the opinions of both the claimant’s IME, Dr. Perloff, and the E/C’s IME, Dr. Kakkar, that the non-occupational risk factors were more likely than not cause of the coronary artery disease and resulting heart attack. The JCC determined that the E/C successfully proved that the risk factors were not caused by the claimant’s employment. The E/C successfully established the requisite specificity as to the combination of wholly non-occupational risk factors by identification, ranking and explanation as to how the risk factors acted as causative agents of the claimant’s coronary artery disease and heart attack. Finally, the JCC found that the E/C established the claimant’s underlying heart disease – coronary artery disease – and triggering event – heart attack – were caused by the referenced non-occupational risk factors. Dr. Perloff testified that the heart attack could have been triggered by a stressful event at work, but the JCC determined that there was no evidence of a stressful triggering event at work. Click here to view Order |