52 Pa. Commw. 567 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1980
Opinion by
The Pennsylvania Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board affirmed the referee’s dismissal of a widow’s fatal claim petition for compensation on the ground that her husband’s death, while employed as a dispatcher for Interstate Motor Freight, was a natural progression of chronic, degenerative heart disease, complicated by an acute myocardial infarction, and quite unrelated to work activities or conditions.
Where the question in a workmen’s compensation case is whether death was a product of a work-related
The sole issue for resolution is this: whether the referee capriciously disregarded competent medical evidence by failing to establish a causal connection between decedent’s work and his death.
Three qualified medical experts testified before the referee on the causation issue: Dr. Mohammed Safdar Ali, decedent’s attending physician, testified by
•Since the referee alone has heard the testimony and observed witnesses firsthand, their veracity and credibility is strictly within the fact-finding referee’s judgment as long as competent evidence lends support for the conclusions. Aluminum Co. of America v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, 33 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 33, 380 A.2d 941 (1977); Forbes Pavilion Nursing Home, Inc. v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, 18 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 352, 336 A.2d 440 (1975).
Claimant argues that the referee’s decision is unsupported by substantial evidence, ignored her son’s testimony, misinterpreted Dr. Ali’s testimony to say there was “no” relationship between employment and death, and inconsistently accepted and denied the testimony of Drs. Goldstein and Munir respectively, though in response to the same hypothetical.
Accordingly, we
Order
And Now, this 7th day of July, 1980, the order of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, dated June 13, 1979, is affirmed.
Section 301(c) of The Pennsylvania Workmen’s Compensation Act, Act of June 2, 1915, P.L. 736, as amended, 77 P.S. §411(1), requires an “injury arising in the course of his employment” for workmen’s compensation.
Where the party with the burden of proof below fails to establish a claim for workmen’s compensation benefits, the question on appeal is whether the referee capriciously disregarded competent evidence in reaching the contested decision. The “capricious disregard of competent evidence” can only be found where the referee willfully and deliberately ignores evidence that a person of ordinary and reasonable intelligence would deem important in reaching a decision. Kania, v. Department of Public Welfare, 49 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 136, 410 A.2d 939 (1979) ; Ulmer v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, 47 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 607, 408 A.2d 902 (1979) ; Lewis v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, 43 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 70, 401 A.2d 863 (1979).