Printing - FECA-PT2 - National Association of Letter Carriers

(1) Martha G. List, 26 ECAB 200. Employee Joseph G. List's fall at work on December
21, 1972 resulted in his death. There was no evidence that any obstacle or other irregular
condition of the workplace caused the fall. The employee had a history of hypertension and
episodes of falling but he had not fallen from the end of 1967 until December 21, 1972. An
Office medical adviser filed a brief opinion stating that it was "reasonable to assume that
the hypertension probably was out of control and that a 'small stroke' occurred on 21 Dec.
72 and was the reason for the fall."
The Board reversed the Office's decision that the employee's injury was caused by an
idiopathic fall and neither arose out of nor was causally related to the employment. In
support of its finding that the employee's fall was unexplained and his resulting death was
compensable, the Board stated:
The question of causal relationship in a case of a fall like that in the present case is a
medical one. The only medical evidence in the case record indicating that the
employee's fall was idiopathic is the statement of the Office medical adviser. His
opinion is speculative and lacking in rationale; it is therefore insufficient to establish
that the employee's fall was idiopathic and to prove that it was due to a preexisting
physical condition. The 5-year interval between his 1967 fall and the fatal 1972
incident militates against such a conclusion.
(2) Gertrude E. Evans, 26 ECAB 195. Employee Wesley W. Evans' fall at work on May 7,
1973 resulted in his death. There was no indication that anything in the workplace caused
him to fall. The employee had a three to five year history of dizziness and fainting spells as
well as a series of falls and hospitalizations in the period immediately preceding the May
1973 episode. He had been hospitalized a month before the May 1973 episode, complaining
of dizziness and passing out. Although the attending physician could not diagnose the
employee's condition, his reports and those of other physicians made it clear that they
regarded the May 1973 episode and the previous ones as having as a common cause an
abnormal physical condition.
The Board affirmed the Office's finding that the employee's fall was idiopathic in nature but
remanded the case for a determination as to whether or not the employee struck an
intervening object when he fell on May 7, 1973.
FECA-PT2 Printed: 06/08/2010 181