Harvey v. Raleigh Police Dept.
| Decision Date | 17 October 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 8810IC1050,8810IC1050 |
| Citation | 96 N.C.App. 28,384 S.E.2d 549 |
| Parties | Lynn M. HARVEY, Widow and Administratrix of the Estate of Michael E. Wichmann, Deceased, Employee, Plaintiff, v. RALEIGH POLICE DEPARTMENT, City of Raleigh, Employer, Self-Insured, Defendant. |
| Court | North Carolina Court of Appeals |
Michaels and Jones, P.A. by Gregory M. Martin, Raleigh, for plaintiff-appellant.
Dawn S. Bryant, Police Atty., Raleigh Police Dept., Raleigh, for defendant-appellee.
Plaintiff's decedent, Michael E. Wichmann, was a police officer employed with the defendant, Raleigh Police Department. Officer Wichmann committed suicide on 1 June 1982. Plaintiff filed for benefits under the Worker's Compensation Act, alleging that her husband suffered from dysthymic disorder, depression, which resulted in his committing suicide. The Commission found that Officer Wichmann suffered from dysthymic disorder. However, the Commission also found that Officer Wichmann was not at an increased risk, as compared to members of the general public, of developing this condition by virtue of his job as a law enforcement officer. The Commission further found that Officer Wichmann's employment as a law enforcement officer did not significantly contribute to, nor was a significant causal factor in, the development of Officer Wichmann's depression. Plaintiff appeals. We affirm.
The primary issues to be considered in this appeal are: (1) whether the Commission improperly disregarded expert testimony on the nature and genesis of Officer Wichmann's depression; (2) whether the Commission erred in finding that Officer Wichmann was not at an increased risk of developing depression by virtue of his job as a law enforcement officer; and (3) whether the Commission erred in finding that Officer Wichmann's employment as a law enforcement officer did not significantly contribute to his depression.
Wichmann was employed with the Raleigh Police Department on 6 February 1978. His initial training period progressed smoothly until he was injured in an accident. After an absence of several months, Wichmann returned to work; however, he encountered difficulties in job performance. Several supervisors recommended that Officer Wichmann's employment as a police officer be terminated. The Chief of Police, Frederick K. Heineman, decided to retain Officer Wichmann, and after Officer Wichmann was transferred, his work performance improved.
In 1982, Officer Wichmann began working part-time as a security officer for K-Mart, while keeping his full-time employment with the Raleigh Police Department. On 19 May 1982, Officer Wichmann was notified that he was being put on administrative leave because of an internal affairs investigation on an allegation that Wichmann had stolen a candy bar from a convenience store. On 28 May 1982, Wichmann was informed that he could not work off duty while on administrative leave. Also in May, Wichmann was notified by K-Mart that he had been named in a lawsuit against K-Mart and Wichmann for false arrest.
On the night of 31 May 1982, Wichmann left his home at about 11:30 p.m. after having had an argument with his wife. When he had not returned the next morning, his wife called the Raleigh Police Department and learned he did not report for work. Wichmann's wife went out looking for him and found his truck parked in a field about 500 feet from their house. One end of a garden hose had been attached to the exhaust pipe, and the other end had been taped in the window of the truck. Wichmann died of asphyxiation due to carbon monoxide inhalation.
Plaintiff filed a claim for benefits under N.C.Gen.Stat. § 97-38, alleging that Wichmann suffered from an occupational disease due to his employment by the Raleigh Police Department and that this compensable occupational disease resulted in his death. The defendant, Raleigh Police Department, denied plaintiff's claim, and the matter was scheduled for hearing before a Deputy Commissioner of the North Carolina Industrial Commission. The case came on for hearing on 30 November 1984, with additional testimony being received in 1985. On 18 October 1985, Deputy Commissioner Angela R. Bryant filed an Opinion and Award finding that Wichmann's suicide was directly caused by depression which was an occupational disease. Defendant appealed to the Full Commission. In an Opinion and Award filed 22 May 1986, the Full Commission vacated and set aside a portion of the Deputy Commissioner's Opinion and Award, holding that Wichmann's death was not due to a compensable occupational disease. Plaintiff filed notice of appeal to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. In an opinion filed 5 May 1987, this Court reversed the main portion of the Industrial Commission's Opinion and Award and remanded the case to the Commission for further consideration. Harvey v. Raleigh Police Department, 85 N.C.App. 540, 355 S.E.2d 147, disc. rev. denied, 320 N.C. 631, 360 S.E.2d 86 (1987). This Court held that the Commission's conclusions of law were not supported by findings of fact. This Court also held that the Commission appeared to have ignored testimony by Dr. Bruce L. Danto, an expert in psychiatry who had performed a "psychological autopsy" on Wichmann. The Court held Dr. Danto's testimony would assist the Commission in determining whether Wichmann had a dysthymic disorder and directed the Commission to consider his testimony on remand.
The case came on for hearing a second time before the Full Commission on 24 May 1988. In an opinion filed 6 July 1988, the Commission adopted the Opinion and Award filed 22 May 1986 with the following modifications:
FINDINGS OF FACT
35. The deceased employee suffered from a dysthymic disorder (depression) at the time of his death. However, the deceased employee was not at an increased risk, as compared to members of the general public, of developing this condition by virtue of his job as a law enforcement officer. Further, his employment as a law enforcement officer did not significantly contribute to, nor was a significant causal factor in, the disorder's development, nor did the deceased employee's occupation aggravate or accelerate the disorder.
36. While the testimony of Bruce L. Danto, M.D. is certainly credible, competent and properly admitted into evidence, the preponderance of the evidence establishes that factors other than the deceased employee's occupation produced the dysthymic disorder and his ultimate death.
37. The deceased employee was not mentally deranged and deprived of normal judgment as a result of his employment.
In all other respects the Industrial Commission Opinion and Award filed 22 May 1986 through the Award section stands as written.
Plaintiff first contends that the Commission improperly disregarded the expert testimony of Dr. Danto. In support of that argument the plaintiff further contends that, since there was no expert medical testimony to rebut Dr. Danto's testimony, the Commission erred in finding to the contrary. Citing Click v. Pilot Freight, 300 N.C. 164, 265 S.E.2d 389 (1980), plaintiff argues that there must be medical testimony to support Finding of Fact No. 36, which is quoted above. The plaintiff argues that Click requires expert medical testimony to support findings by the Commission in cases of this nature.
We disagree with plaintiff's analysis for several reasons. First, our review of the record does not lead us to the conclusion that the Commission ignored or disregarded Dr. Danto's testimony. Dr. Danto was tendered by the plaintiff as an expert in psychiatry, suicidology and police stress. Dr. Danto performed a "psychological autopsy" on the decedent, a process involving interviewing family members and reviewing records of the deceased. The purpose is to determine the probable cause of death or the person's state of mind at the time of his death. Dr. Danto testified that his psychological autopsy of Officer Wichmann led him to the opinion that Wichmann suffered from depression, that his employment significantly contributed to the depression, and that the depression was the direct cause of his suicide. Dr. Danto also testified as to the amount and type of stress police officers are exposed to as compared to members of the general...
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