Opinion
January 17, 1962
Appeal by the employer and carrier from an award of death benefits in a heart case. Appellants challenge the finding of accident and causal relationship to the death. Decedent was a building superintendent. On November 8, 1958, he left his apartment for work at about 7:30 A.M. He appeared in good health at the time. His widow testified that he returned to the apartment in the afternoon complaining of not feeling well; that he told her that while cleaning the incinerator and lifting cans of refuse containing old bricks left from a previous boiler repair job, he felt sharp chest pains which radiated down his right arm, accompanied by sweating and nausea. A doctor was called. The following day decedent entered a hospital where he died on November 17, 1958. The cause of death was listed, following an autopsy, as coronary atherosclerosis, superimposed thrombosis with occlusion of the right coronary artery, and myocardial infarction. The infarction was of recent origin. It is necessary to climb several steps from the incinerator to the basement level. The widow noticed nine cans containing old bricks and other debris on the sidewalk. There is medical evidence causally associating decedent's arduous work outlined above with his death. The fact that decedent associated his discomfort and pain with a heavy meal which he had eaten is not a controlling factor. Appellants accept the fact that decedent did clean the incinerator and lift and carry heavy cans a short time before he felt the chest pains. Their contention is that such work accompanied by chest pains does not constitute an accident. We think the evidence is adequate to permit a factual finding of accident and causal relation. Award affirmed, with costs to the Workmen's Compensation Board. Bergan, P.J., Coon, Gibson and Taylor, JJ., concur; Reynolds, J., dissents, and votes to reverse and dismiss the claim.