Opinion
March 27, 1990
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Walter Schackman, J.).
The conclusory opinion of the Medical Board of the Police Pension Fund, which stated, in the absence of stress tests, that petitioner's irregular heart beat (atrial fibrillation) stemmed from an unknown cause, was improperly relied upon by the Pension Fund's board of trustees as constituting competent medical evidence to rebut the "Heart Bill" presumption (see, General Municipal Law § 207-k; see also, Matter of Gumbrecht v McGuire, 117 A.D.2d 531, 533). Notably, not only did petitioner allege that his defective heart condition was caused by the stress associated with his police duties, but the record reveals that petitioner experienced his first symptoms of heart disease approximately 10 years after he was appointed to the police force.
Concur — Ross, J.P., Carro, Asch and Rubin, JJ.