A postal worker who had bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome for which he stopped working due to authorized surgery took his own life at the age of 48. According to his widow, who filed a claim for compensation, intractable pain from the worker’s right hand triggered the suicide.
A medical report noted that the worker was being maintained on high doses of opioid medications until he began a process of weaning off of them.
The widow produced medical reports dating back to 2011 that revealed that the employee’s phalanges were deteriorating and that debilitating pain rendered his hands unusable.
The widow also reported that during the week of the worker’s death, he had been in more pain than ever and was desperate to find a doctor to treat his condition so that he could have a quality of life. He was prescribed Clonazepam, which he had been taking for a few years.
The worker’s autopsy report indicated that anxiety was an “an other significant condition” and that the worker’s ethanol level was considered by the State of New York as intoxicated.
Ultimately, the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs denied the widow’s claim, finding that evidence did not demonstrate an unbroken chain of causation between the employment-related injury and the worker’s suicide.
OWCP made its decision based on a medical report opining that the “main factors causing the suicide” were opiate dependence and alcohol intoxication combined with family history, past psychiatric history, childhood trauma, and relationships. The report also noted that the worker had been prescribed opiates for multiple surgeries over the years, and it was unclear when opiates were last used and whether he could have been in withdrawal.
The widow sought review from the Employees Compensation Appeals Board.
