 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
City of Frederick v. Shankle1/31/2001
REPORTED
Under Maryland Workers Compensation law, state and municipal police officers (and others) who have heart disease that results in partial or total disability are entitled to a presumption that they have a compensable occupational disease that was suffered in the line of duty. See Md. Code Ann., Lab. & Empl. ("LE") § 9-503 (1999 Repl. Vol. & Supp. 2000). The presumption is rebuttable, but neither the statute nor Maryland precedent spells out what type of testimony can be presented by the employer to rebut the presumption. More specifically, Maryland case law leaves it unclear whether an expert's testimony should be excluded if one of the grounds for the expert's opinion is that there is no scientific basis to support the view (impliedly embraced by the General Assembly) that there is sometimes a link between the high level of stress associated with certain occupations (fire fighter, police officer, etc.) and the development of heart disease.
In the case sub judice, the trial judge ruled that the videotaped deposition of the employer's expert, a cardiologist, was inadmissible because one of the grounds for his opinion that the claimant's heart disease was not related to his occupation was the expert's belief that there is no link between stress and heart disease. That ruling left the employer with no evidence to rebut the presumption set forth in section 9-503(b) and left the trial court with no choice but to grant summary judgment in favor of the police officer. On appeal, appellants (the City of Frederick/insurer) raise several questions, which we have rephrased and condensed:
1. Did the circuit court err when it struck the expert testimony of Alan G. Wasserman, M.D., on the grounds that one of the reasons for Dr. Wasserman's opinion that Officer Shankle did not suffer from an occupational disease was his belief that there was no link between occupational stress and heart disease?
2. Is an expert cardiologist required to accept that occupational stress causes coronary artery disease in order to testify, even when he testified that "it is not accepted in the medical community that stress causes coronary artery disease or a risk factor for it?"
3. Is it possible for any employer to ever rebut the presumption in LE §9-503(b)(1), if experts are not allowed to express their opinions that a claimant's coronary artery disease is unrelated to his occupation, in part because they believe occupational stress does not cause coronary artery disease?
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
A. General Background
Donald Shankle joined the Frederick City ("the City") police force in 1975. Approximately twenty years later, when he was forty-five years of age, he was admitted to Washington Hospital Center where he was diagnosed with coronary artery disease. He returned to his job in late December of 1995 and worked for seven weeks, but then stopped working because his heart disease prevented him from performing his police duties. In May of 1996, Officer Shankle underwent bypass surgery.
Officer Shankle filed a claim with the Maryland Workers' Compensation Commission ("the Commission") in 1996. He alleged, inter alia, that his coronary artery disease constituted an "occupational disease" that arose out of his employment as a City police officer. The City and its insurer opposed the claim and maintained that Officer Shankle's heart problem was not work-related.
On October 31, 1997, the Commission ruled that the claimant's coronary artery disease was work-related. It awarded Officer Shankle legal fees, medical benefits, and compensation for temporary total disability for a period of ap
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Maryland Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|