Nurse whose son died from COVID properly denied workers comp: Court
Reprints
A frontline nurse who said she contracted COVID-19 on the job and then passed it along to her son, who later died from the disease, was properly denied workers compensation benefits because she failed to prove the illness was work-related, the Delaware Superior Court ruled Wednesday.
The appellate court, in Hudson v. Beebe Medical Center, affirmed the denial of workers comp benefits to Carol Hudson, who worked on the COVID-19 floor of Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, Delaware. She said she contracted the virus at work in October 2020 and later had to be hospitalized.
Ms. Hudson, who worked for Beebe for 39 years, said her two sons contracted COVID-19 around the same time. One died from the disease.
Beebe argued Ms. Hudson likely became infected outside of work, and that her son who died from COVID-19 may have been the one who infected her.
A workers comp board found Ms. Hudson failed to prove she contracted COVID-19 at work and that the disease was a presumed occupational injury.
The appeals court ruled the workers comp board properly concluded there was sufficient evidence to support the claim that Ms. Hudson’s son may have introduced the virus to the household he shared with his mother and brother.
