Court Opinion

ID: 9711255
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:27:35.792875+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:03.189512
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION BY
Judge McGINLEY.
I respectfully dissent to the majority’s conclusion that Eli Babich (Claimant) is not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. I specifically dissent to the majority’s determination that Claimant failed to establish that he was entitled to benefits for a physical/mental injury.
As the majority states, a claimant alleging a mental injury need only demonstrate that the physical stimulus resulted in a mental disability. A claimant suffering a physical/mental injury need only prove that the injury arose in the course of employment and was related thereto. Donovan v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Academy Medical Realty), 739 A.2d 1156, 1161 (Pa.Cmwlth.1999).
Here, Claimant credibly testified that feces and urine were thrown in his face. Claimant was tested for hepatitis and AIDS. Because of confidentiality considerations, Claimant was not told whether his assailant had AIDS. The majority argues that this physical stimulus is not sufficient. The majority contrasts the present controversy with Donovan where Thomas Donovan (Donovan), a janitor was stuck with used hypodermic needles while cleaning an office. The majority argues that being struck in the face with urine and feces was not an injury, but was instead an unwelcome touching insufficient to serve as a physical stimulus for a mental disability.
I cannot agree. First, Claimant clearly was struek in the face with urine and fecal material. Much like Donovan, Claimant was contacted by something which conceivably led to him contracting a serious disease. Second, the majority states that “we do not have an ‘injury.’ ” However, an injury is not what is required under the case law. Only a stimulus is required. Third, the majority asserts that because it is not unusual for nurses in prisons to be struck with urine, feces, and other bodily fluids and is just “part of the job,” it does not serve as a physical stimulus required for the physical/mental standard to apply. This Court noted with disapproval similar reasoning by the WCJ and the Board in Donovan: “We find it to be astonishing, if not outrageous, the rather cavalier suggestion, inferred by the WCJ and the Board and advanced by Employer [Academy Medical Realty, Donovan’s employer] that exposure to and wounding by improperly *67disposed of hypodermic needles are simply part of the normal working conditions of janitors in medical offices.” Donovan, 739 A.2d at 1163. Similarly, here, I cannot accept that it is simply part of the job of a prison nurse to have bodily fluids thrown in his unprotected face. Fourth, I believe this situation is much more akin to the situation in Donovan than in Cantarella v. Department of Corrections, 835 A.2d 870 (Pa.Cmwlth.2003), which the majority mentions, where an inmate touched the buttocks of a food service instructor in a prison.
The majority also asserts that even if the physical/mental standard applied, Claimant did not make out his claim because he failed to establish that the feces and urine being thrown on him caused his mental injury. The majority cites the WCJ’s determination that Claimant’s witness, Dr. Coburn, did not attribute Claimant’s psychological problems to a physical injury which he received at work.
A review of Dr. Coburn’s testimony leads to a contrary conclusion. Dr. Coburn testified that Claimant informed him of a number of situations where “some bizarre things had happened to him in the prison setting.” Deposition of P. Christopher Co-burn, Ph.D., May 6, 2002, (Dr. Coburn Deposition) at 7; Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 143a. Among these “bizarre things” was having feces thrown in his face. Dr. Coburn Deposition at 7-8; R.R. at 143a-144a. Dr. Coburn diagnosed Claimant with post traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Coburn Deposition at 10; R.R. at 146a. Dr. Coburn stated that Claimant experienced a series of unusual events which a nurse would normally not experience. Dr. Coburn Deposition at 13-14; R.R. at 149a-150a. These unusual events include the event at issue here. Dr. Co-burn essentially attributed the cause of Claimant’s post traumatic stress disorder to these events. Dr. Coburn Deposition at 24-26; R.R. at 160a-162a. Although Dr. Coburn did testify on cross-examination that the incident where an inmate slit his own throat was the “straw that broke the camel’s back,” Dr. Coburn Deposition at 37-38; R.R. at 173a-174a, as the majority states, Dr. Coburn did not testify that that was the only event which led to his mental injury.
I believe that Claimant met his burden of proof that he suffered a physical/mental injury. I would reverse the denial of benefits and remand for necessary credibility determinations and factfinding.
Judge SMITH-RIBNER joins in this dissent.