Claim dismissed on medical causation grounds: the claimant faints in the bathroom at work and thereby aggravates her pre-existing back condition.

This case involved a Petition to Determine Compensation Due alleging that on July 16, 2009, the claimant fainted at work and thereby aggravated a pre-existing back condition. The employer defended on causation grounds. The claimant was a supervisor of a night custodial staff at a school. After her shift began, she went to use the bathroom as she was constipated and in great pain. She began to sweat profusely in what she described as the very hot bathroom, then she fainted and was found on the bathroom floor by a co-worker. The claimant's medical expert testified that she had a period of disability from aggravating her low back condition. He further testified that the culmination of factors included the claimant exerting herself at work, straining while relieving herself, and fainting. He concluded that the claimant's work and the claimant having a heat stroke were factors in causing her to syncope. The employer's medical expert testified that the claimant had a condition known as defecation syncope, which is a slowing of the heart rate to the point where a person faints when straining to have a bowel movement. He opined that the workplace had no causal relationship to the syncope event; rather, it could have happened anywhere. The event was related to the claimant's chemical makeup and from her straining for a period of time. The Board dismissed the petition, finding the injury unrelated to the claimant's employment. In so doing, the Board agreed with the employer that the claimant did not faint or syncope due to a heat stroke but, rather, from straining to relieve herself. The event in question could have happened anywhere and, therefore, was not causally related to the claimant's employment.

Case Law Alert - 1st Qtr 2011