Illinois machine operator secures workers comp benefits
The Illinois Workers Compensation Commission awarded permanent total disability benefits to an employee who suffered an embolic stroke and brain damage after shoveling snow for several hours at work.
Where expert medical testimony indicates that a claimant's work activity increased his blood flow, thereby causing a pre-existing benign tumor in his heart to break up and cause obstructions in blood flow, the worker's resulting brain damage and other injuries are compensable under the WCA.
The worker, a punch press machine operator, arrived at work at 11 p.m. and was instructed to shovel snow. This was an activity he had not been previouisly asked to perform. He removed the snow with a shovel and a small push snow blower for several hours before noticing shortness of breath and numbness in his extremities. He also developed chest tightness and respiratory distress. He was diagnosed with left atrial myxoma and underwent a surgical resection of the myxoma. The discharge summary included hypoxic encephalopathy. Upon discharge, the claimant was unable to speak, had left arm hemiplegia with slight peripheral edema, and cognitive limitations. He was transferrred to a rehabilitation institute. Relying on the tetimony of the worker's medical expert, the arbitrator found that the claimant sustained accidental injuries arising out of and in the course of his employment.
The worker's expert, a professor of cardiovascular medicine, explained that an artrial myxoma is a benign tumor that originates from the wall of the heart and attaches with a stalk to a portion of the heart atrium. The expert opined that two processes occurred in the worker's case. The first was a blockage of the myxoma over the inflow track. This occurred during the work activity of snow removal, which increased blood flow and caused the tumor to move. As a result, there wa hypoxia. The second process occurred as the tumor entered into the outflow valve. The movement back and forth of the tumor caused it to split or break up with a portion remaining attached to the heart atrium. The portion that detached then embolized, with particles traveling downstream to the brain, liver and kidneys. The parts that broke off caused obstructions, resulting in decreased blood flow to the brain and eventual brain damage.
A pre-existing condition does not bar workers compensation benefits if the employment was a causative factor in the injury. In this case, the arbitrator concluded that the exterional activity of snow removal caused the atrial myxoma to move over the mitral valve. Therefore, the resultant embolic stroke and brain damage was causally related to the work accident.
