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Howard v. Sterling Plumbing Group12/1/1999
Members of Panel: Justice Janice M. Holder Senior Judge F. Lloyd Tatum Senior Judge L. T. Lafferty
AFFIRMED AND REMANDED
F. LLOYD TATUM, SENIOR JUDGE
OPINION
This workers' compensation appeal was referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated ยง 50-6-225(e)(3) (Supp. 1998) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. This worker's compensation suit was brought by Doris Howard, widow of Paul Howard, deceased, for the use and benefit of herself and the two minor children of the plaintiff, and Paul Howard, deceased. The trial court found for the plaintiff, holding that her husband, Paul Howard, suffered a compensable heart attack arising out of and in the course of his employment for the defendant. The court held that the heart attack resulted in the death of Mr. Howard and awarded benefits accordingly.
In its only issue, the defendant says that the plaintiff did not prove by a preponderance of the evidence "that the claimants heart attack was precipitated by physical activity or exertion or physical strain associated with claimant's job." After considering the record, we find that the judgment of the trial court must be affirmed.
Except for the medical evidence, there is no substantial conflict in the evidence. The plaintiff, the employee's widow, testified that Mr. Howard was 6'1" tall, 42 years of age, and weighed 168 pounds on October 10, 1995, when he died at work. He had high blood pressure and cholesterol.
On October 10, 1995, the deceased left home to go to work at approximately 6:10 p.m. He was a maintenance employee for the defendant. Later, he telephoned his wife, and they had a normal conversation, Mr. Howard was in a good humor and laughing. He told his wife that at that time he was cleaning.
Glen Page, testified that he worked in the maintenance department of the defendant corporation with Mr. Howard. They worked together on the evening of October 10, 1995. They weren't busy in the maintenance department, so they did some cleanup work involving sweeping. Mr. Howard was using a pushbroom that measured from 14 to 18 inches wide. Mr. Page testified that sweeping with the pushbroom was not strenuous work and that he and Mr. Howard could take a break when they desired. Mr. Page was called to the telephone and was gone for about twenty minutes. When he returned, Mr. Howard was lying on the floor. He had turned blue, and the pushbroom was on the floor two or three feet from him.
Dr. Robert D. Dodds, II, a cardiologist, testified by deposition. On October 10, 1995, he was called in his capacity as the medical examiner for Obion County to observe Mr. Howard, who had experienced cardiac arrest at work. Mr. Howard was dead on arrival at the emergency room of the hospital. Dr. Dodds viewed the body but did not examine him at that time. Instead, he ordered an autopsy. Before testifying, Dr. Dodds reviewed all medical reports, autopsy reports, and all other pertinent material in the case. Dr. Dodds was of the opinion that Mr. Howard died as a result of acute myocardial infarction. Dr. Dodds was of the opinion that the heart attack was the result of exertion superimposed on Mr. Howard's pre-existing coronary artery disease. Dr. Dodds testified that a heart attack (acute myocardial infarction) can happen at rest but usually happens with exertion of some nature superimposed on pre-existing coronary artery disease.
Dr. Dodds testified that Mr. Howard had critical blockage of arteries that supplied the dominant left ventricular muscular mass. He described the blocka
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