Opinion ID: 1923766
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Commissioner's Finding of Causation

Text: The Commissioner found as a matter of fact that the claimant's contact with Elio Talamine was more probable than not the medical cause of her contracting tuberculosis. The medical witness, Dr. Martin, never testified that contact with Mr. Talamine was the cause of her infection, only that intimacy with an infected person increases another's susceptibility to the disease. The employer claims that the absence of direct medical testimony on the cause of the claimant's disease renders the Commissioner's findings wholly speculative and without any foundation in fact. We disagree. The Commissioner's findings of fact are final if they are supported by competent evidence and the reasonable inferences which may be drawn therefrom. Crosby v. Grandview Nursing Home, Me., 290 A.2d 375 (1972). It was not necessary for the medical expert to testify that the claimant's tuberculosis was caused by her exposure to the infected patient. Conclusions relating to medical cause may be drawn from the proven facts and inferences logically drawn therefrom even though they lack the support of direct medical opinion. Matthews v. R. T. Allen & Sons, Inc., Me., 266 A.2d 240 (1970). Here, the evidence showed that the claimant came in intimate contact with a patient suffering from tuberculosis; that susceptibility to tuberculosis increases with contact; that tuberculosis is a communicable disease with an incubation period varying, in the doctor's words, from a month to ten years or longer; that one year and three months after exposure to the patient, the claimant developed tuberculosis. We cannot say the Commissioner's findings were not supported by the evidence or that his conclusions did not have a rational basis. See 39 M.R.S.A. § 99. The entry will be: Appeal denied. It is further ordered that the appellants pay to the appellee $550 for her counsel fees, plus her actual reasonable out-of-pocket expenses of this appeal.