Opinion
January 6, 1971
Appeals by employer and its insurance carrier from decisions of the Workmen's Compensation Board, filed October 20, 1969 and April 16, 1970, which determined that the decedent suffered a compensable accident. The board found that the decedent's work activities involved excessive pressure, long hours of work and strain and stress beyond the normal wear and tear of life which precipitated a fatal myocardial infarction. The expert medical testimony in the record in support of the claim recites that the decedent worked long hours and lay testimony establishes that the decedent did in fact work long and arduous hours. However, the medical testimony was directed solely towards a causal connection between "emotional stress" and the fatal infarction. The record contains no evidence that the decedent was under an emotional stress and the medical testimony in support of the claim merely hypothesized that because the work being performed had to be done by a certain date (deadline) the decedent was in fact under a severe emotional stress. Upon the present record the doctor's conclusion as to an emotional stress was pure speculation. A review of the entire record shows no substantial evidence that the "pressure or emotional strain" upon the instant decedent by the demands of his work activities were any greater than those to which all workers are occasionally subjected to without untoward results ( Matter of Gordon v. Temple Beth El of Great Neck, 18 A.D.2d 855, affd. 14 N.Y.2d 742; Matter of Traversone v. Lee Bros. Stor., 17 A.D.2d 175; Matter of Bloom v. Cohen Son, 16 A.D.2d 841; Matter of Cramer v. Barney's Clothing Store, 15 A.D.2d 329, affd. 13 N.Y.2d 711; Matter of Santacroce v. 40 W. 20th St., 9 A.D.2d 985, affd. 10 N.Y.2d 855). Decision reversed, with costs against the Workmen's Compensation Board, and matter remitted for further proceedings not inconsistent herewith. Herlihy, P.J., Reynolds, Staley, Jr., Cooke and Sweeney, JJ., concur.