'Death a month after fall at construction site' Court "Pays survivors' benefits" after not recognizing industrial accident

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Bae-eum = A court ruled that bereaved family benefits and funeral expenses must be paid to the bereaved family of a worker who died from pulmonary embolism a month after recovering from a fall accident at work.

According to the legal community on the 11th, the 7th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Chief Judge Kang Woo-chan) ruled in favor of the plaintiff in a lawsuit recently filed by Mr.

Mr. A, an employee of a construction company, fell from a 2m high workbench while installing scaffolding at a construction site.

As a result of this accident, Mr. A was diagnosed with a right ankle fracture and facial lacerations, was hospitalized, and then recuperated at home after obtaining work-related accident approval.

Mr. A was found collapsed in the bathroom of his home a month after the accident and was taken to the hospital, where he eventually died. According to the National Institute of Forensic Science autopsy, the cause of death was pulmonary embolism.

The bereaved family claimed that Mr. A's death was a work-related accident and requested payment of bereaved family benefits and funeral expenses.

However, the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service refused to pay, saying it did not recognize the causal relationship between the injuries and death caused by the accident, and the bereaved families filed a lawsuit against the decision.

The court ruled in favor of the bereaved family, saying, "Considering the medical opinion, it is highly probable that the deceased suffered from deep vein thrombosis and progressed to pulmonary embolism as a result of this accident, leading to his death."

The court relied on the court expert's judgment that "Deep vein thrombosis occurred due to fractures and trauma caused by the accident, which limited walking and damaged blood vessel walls, and it is most likely that the blood clot progressed to pulmonary embolism and led to death."

The National Forensic Service's autopsy report said, "Thrombosis was confirmed in the deep veins of the legs," and that no other effects of trauma or drugs that could be considered causes of death were confirmed.

The court ruled, “It is difficult to deny the causal relationship between the accident and death in this case simply because the person died from pulmonary embolism one month after the accident.”

The Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service also did not accept the claim that Mr. A may have suffered a pulmonary embolism due to the fact that he was diagnosed with arrhythmia five months before the accident.

The court pointed out that arrhythmia has a completely different mechanism from pulmonary embolism, and that Mr. A did not experience any special symptoms or receive additional treatment after being diagnosed with arrhythmia.