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Widow entitled to wage benefits in husband’s suicide

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The widow of a worker who committed suicide when he developed depression following a work injury is entitled to a percentage of his wages, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court held Monday.

In Southeastern Transportation Authority v. Workers Compensation Appeal Board, the court affirmed a workers compensation judge’s ruling granting the widow’s fatal claim petition after determining that his mental condition had been caused by his back injury on the job.

Gregory Hansell worked for the Southeastern Transportation Authority when he suffered a lower back sprain in June 2016. He attempted to return to work on light duty but was unable to do so. Less than a year later, he committed suicide. His widow, Maureen Hansell, filed a fatal claim petition, alleging that her husband became depressed, delusional and irrational after his work injury.

A workers comp judge granted the petition and the Workers Compensation Appeal Board affirmed the decision.

SEPTA appealed, arguing that the workers comp judge erred in holding that the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act did not bar compensation benefits and that there was no substantial evidence to support a finding that Mr. Hansell’s mental illness was “so severe as to obscure his rational judgment to the point that (he) lacked the intent to commit suicide.”

SEPTA also argued that the workers comp judge should have applied the mental-mental standard requiring a showing that abnormal working conditions contributed to Mr. Hansell’s psychiatric illness.

The commonwealth court affirmed the decision, holding that the workers comp judge did not err in granting the fatal claim petition. The court held that the record supported the judge’s finding that Mr. Hansell’s work injury directly caused him “to become dominated by a disturbance of the mind of such severity as to override normal rational judgment.”

The court also dismissed SEPTA’s argument that the judge should have used the mental-mental standard to evaluate the case. The court held that there was substantial evidence that Mr. Hansell’s mental health declined as a result of his physical injury, and that the mental-mental standard did not apply because the psychological injury was not a result of psychological stress.

 

 

 

 

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