Lewis

In August 1968 Lewis, a television serviceman, then 45, suffered orthopedic injuries in a work-related automobile accident. In July 1972, he died of heart disease. The single question in these compensation proceedings is whether the disability, discomfort, and pain consequent to the 1968 accident contributed to his death from coronary atherosclerosis in 1972.

Lewis’s widow filed two claims of entitlement to death benefits. In one, she claimed the pain suffered by the injured employee as a consequence of the automobile accident produced stress which accelerated his arteriosclerosis and caused his death from heart disease four years later. In the other, she claimed the work performed by Lewis on resumption of his employment after the accident increased his pain and thereby created stress, which accelerated his arteriosclerosis and led to his death from heart disease.

On the basis of lay testimony and two conflicting medical opinions, Compensation Judge Daraban accepted the claim that Lewis’s death was compensable by reason of pain and stress resulting from the accident. He rejected the claim for compensation based on stress caused by Lewis’s employment subsequent to his…