Kenyon v. Scott Fetzer Co.8/5/1996
JAMES D. SWEENEY, Judge.
Defendant-appellant-employer the Scott Fetzer Company, Halex Division ("Fetzer") appeals from the decision of the common pleas court which affirmed the determination by the Industrial Commission recognizing a subsequent condition (myocardial infarction) of plaintiff-appellee-employee Lawrence Kenyon for workers' compensation benefits. For the reasons adduced below, we affirm.
A review of the record on appeal indicates that on August 11, 1987, Kenyon was injured when he slipped and fell while in the course and scope of his employment as a tool and die maker at Fetzer. On the basis of this injury, he was awarded the right to participate in Ohio's Workers' Compensation Fund for the conditions of (1) left inguinal hernia and (2) aggravation of pre-existing osteoarthritis of the left hip. See claim No. L010994-22. On April 16, 1990, Kenyon underwent left hip replacement surgery, which was recognized by Fetzer for workers' compensation purposes on the allowed claim. On April 24, 1992, Kenyon underwent right hip replacement surgery, the physical symptoms of which were determined to be causally related to the allowed injury of August 11, 1987. On April 29, 1992, four days following the right hip replacement surgery, Kenyon, while recuperating in the hospital from his latest surgery, was scheduled to be transferred from Ashtabula County Medical Center to Hillside Hospital in Warren, Ohio for rehabilitation and physical therapy. While the two ambulance attendants were placing Kenyon, who was strapped to a gurney, into the back of the ambulance, one of the attendants lost his grip on the gurney. As a result, the gurney flipped over and lodged on the rear bumper of the ambulance, leaving Kenyon dangling in midair, upside down, and still strapped to the suspended gurney. In the attempt to disengage the overturned gurney from the ambulance bumper, the gurney dropped to the asphalt pavement below. Kenyon's head, shoulder, arm and elbow struck the pavement. The gurney was then righted, and Kenyon was successfully loaded into the ambulance. During the ambulance ride, Kenyon recalled, he was very warm and sweating. Shortly after arriving at Hillside Hospital following a ride of approximately one hour and fifteen minutes, Kenyon exhibited further symptoms consistent with a heart attack. The Hillside Hospital personnel suspected that Kenyon was suffering from a heart attack and immediately transferred him to Trumbull Memorial Hospital, where a heart attacsmyocardial infarction) was diagnosed and treated. Prior to this cardiac event, Kenyon had had no notice or knowledge of a coronary disease.
Thereafter, Kenyon filed a C-86 motion on June 19, 1992 with the Bureau of Workers' Compensation, requesting that the 1992 heart attack be recognized as an additional, or "flow-through," condition in his allowed claim from August 11, 1987. This motion was granted by the district hearing officer on August 2, 1993. On January 5, 1994, the regional board of review affirmed the decision of the district hearing officer. On February 18, 1994, the Industrial Commission of Ohio affirmed the decision of the regional board of review. On April 15, 1994, Fetzer filed an appeal in the common pleas court. On September 6, 1995, after having conducted an oral hearing before the court, the trial court affirmed the decision of the regional board of review. This timely appeal followed, presenting one assignment of error:
"Appellee's new injury, a myocardial infarction, was not directly and proximately caused by any of the previously allowed conditions in his claim."
The allowance of workers' compensation benefits for residual, or flow-through, injuries
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