Does Workers’ Compensation Cover Internal Failures Such as Heart Attacks, Strokes, Hernias, and Cardiovascular Problems?
For internal failures such as heart attacks, cardiovascular ailments, strokes, hernias, and the like, the “Victor Wine test” provides the elements of proof imposed upon the employee who suffers from a relevant pre-existing medical condition, and the “Zundell standard” provides the elements of proof for the claimant who did not have a pre-existing condition. Under the “Zundell standard”, an internal failure is compensable upon the claimant’s proof that the failure was “a physical injury arising from a workplace exertion and was not attributable to any ascertainable preexisting condition.” For example, a claimant in perfect health has proven a compensable internal failure by showing that while doing routine lifting at work he suffered a hernia during a lift. Similarly, a school teacher without evident prior cardiovascular problems proved a compensable internal failure when his doctor testified that the stress of an unruly student caused his brain hemorrhage. Both these examples, of cours
