Kingsport Press, Inc. v. Van Huss

• Decision Date: 07 March 1977
• Citation: 547 S.W.2d 572
• Parties: KINGSPORT PRESS, INCORPORATED, Appellant, v. Brenda VAN HUSS et al., Appellees. 547 S.W.2d 572
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

Page 572

547 S.W.2d 572

KINGSPORT PRESS, INCORPORATED, Appellant, v. Brenda VAN HUSS et al., Appellees.

547 S.W.2d 572

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

March 7, 1977.

Richard M. Currie, Jr., Wilson, Worley, Gamble & Ward, Kingsport, for appellant.

Rowland E. Verran, Johnson City, for appellees.

OPINION

COOPER, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal by the employer from an adverse judgment rendered in the Chancery Court of Sullivan County, Tennessee, in a workmen's compensation proceeding.

The appellee, Brenda Van Huss, filed a petition in behalf of herself and two minor children for benefits under the Workmen's Compensation Act for the death of her husband, Richard Van Huss. At the time of his death, Mr. Van Huss was employed as a maintenance mechanic by Kingsport Press, Inc. The chancellor, after a full hearing, held that the employee's death was compensable and that the petitioner was entitled to a decree for full death benefits. The employer contends, on appeal, that there is no material evidence that Mr. Van Huss's death was due to an injury by accident which arose out of and in the course of his employment.

The deceased employee had been a maintenance mechanic for more than ten years prior to his death. On January 2, 1975, Mr. Van Huss returned to work after having had a twelve day rest due to a combination of regular holidays and vacation days which he had taken. On reporting to work at 8:00 a. m., Mr. Van Huss informed his supervisor that he was having some chest pain and that the pain extended into his arm. The supervisor suggested that Mr. Van Huss seek medical treatment a suggestion which Mr. Van Huss did not choose to take since previous complaints of such pain had been diagnosed as stomach trouble. The supervisor then assigned Mr. Van Huss to help a fellow worker, Willie Gilliam, who was finishing lathe work on a roller core. Mr. Van Huss helped Mr. Gilliam turn the roller core, which weighed some ninety-seven pounds, end-for-end in the lathe. He also sharpened a few lathe tools for Mr. Gilliam, prior to the 9:15 a. m. break.

After the work break, Mr. Van Huss went to the Plant Medical Department and reported an increase in chest and arm pain. The nurse on duty at the plant sent Mr. Van Huss by ambulance to Holston Valley Community Hospital, where he was admitted to the coronary care unit, with a preliminary diagnosis of "myocardial infarction."

According to the medical history taken from Mr. Van Huss on admission to the hospital, he first noticed symptoms on January 1, 1975, "with a sharp pain in the chest and into his hands and he also noticed some labored respirations," which lasted about ten minutes. He had no more difficulty until about 9:00 a. m. on January 2, 1975, "when he began having pain again in the chest, arms, neck, jaws, and hands. This pain . . . did not ease up. (Also) he had a profuse perspiration and was short of breath."

Dr. W. P. Templeton, a cardiologist, examined Mr. Van Huss at about 6:00 p. m. and found all vital signs to be normal. At approximately 7:30 p. m., Mr. Van Huss went into cardiac arrest. Efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at 8:24 p. m. The cause of death, according to Dr. Templeton, was ventricular fibrillation which was the aftermath of an acute myocardial infarction.

Dr. Templeton testified that the myocardial infarction occurred the morning of January 2, 1975, about the time of Mr. Van Huss's admission to the hospital. The onset of pain on January 1, 1975, was described as "pilot angina," not an infarction, but a warning sign of an impending infarction.

As noted by the chancellor in his opinion, the cause of Mr. Van Huss's death was never in dispute, nor was it disputed that Mr. Van Huss had a myocardial infarction while at his job with Kingsport Press. The issue was whether there was any causal connection between the work being performed by Mr. Van Huss and the myocardial infarction, which proved to be fatal.

In Lawrence County Highway Department v. J. W. Hardiman, 531 S.W.2d 792 (Tenn.1975), it is pointed out that there is no iron-clad rule which calls for payment of benefits under the Workmen's Compensation Law where an employee suffers a heart attack while at work and for the denial of benefits where the employee suffers a heart attack while on the way home from work. The key to the recovery or denial of benefits is whether the heart attack is precipitated by the physical activity and exertion of the employee's work.

If so, an employee who dies in the course of his employment as a result of a heart attack, although suffering from a previous heart disease, is covered under the Workmen's Compensation Act even if the result was produced by ordinary exertion and usual strain of the work. Lawrence County Highway Department v. Hardiman, supra; Coleman v. Coker, 204 Tenn. 310, 321 S.W.2d 540 (1959). But where the heart attack is not brought on by the work which the employee was doing, or...