Survivor's family wins case against Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service... ‘Substantial causal relationship between work and death’

Survivor's family wins case against Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service... “Substantial causal relationship between work and death”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Young-seop = A ruling has been made that the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service's decision to not pay pneumoconiosis survivor pension and funeral expenses to the bereaved family of a coal mine worker who made the extreme choice while fighting pneumoconiosis was illegal.

According to the legal community on the 28th, the 10th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Chief Judge Jeong Eun-young) recently ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by Mr.

Mr. A worked as a light source at a coal mine and was first diagnosed with pneumoconiosis in 1986. He was then diagnosed with cardiopulmonary dysfunction through multiple detailed examinations.

He committed suicide on October 3, 2023 while recuperating at the hospital.

The bereaved family requested pneumoconiosis bereaved pension and funeral expenses, but the corporation decided to pay for it on the grounds that it was difficult to acknowledge the causal relationship between pneumoconiosis and death.

The bereaved family filed a request for reexamination with the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Review Committee, but when it was rejected, they filed an administrative lawsuit.

The bereaved family argued in court, "After being diagnosed with pneumoconiosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the deceased suffered worsening symptoms of difficulty breathing, sleep disorders, and anxiety disorders. Just before his death, his mental illness worsened due to symptoms related to pneumothorax, a pneumoconiosis complication, and he made the extreme choice while his normal cognitive abilities were impaired. The deceased's death was an occupational disease and has a significant causal relationship with pneumoconiosis."

The court ruled in favor of the bereaved family, saying, “It can be inferred that the deceased committed suicide in a situation where rational judgment could not be expected due to worsening mental illness caused by pneumoconiosis, an occupational disease, so the death has a significant causal relationship with work.”

The court pointed out that Mr. A was diagnosed with anxiety disorder, sleep disorder, and depression while receiving treatment for a long period of time due to pneumoconiosis, and that his existing symptoms of anxiety and depression worsened a year before his death as his lung function deteriorated rapidly.

Considering that Mr. A was told by the medical staff that his lung disease would not improve and that he expressed things such as 'everyday life is so difficult and tiring,' it was determined that there was a high possibility that he had fallen into deep despair and helplessness around this time.

The court expert's opinion that there was a possibility that the fear caused by the simultaneous occurrence of multiple severe lung diseases, the worsening of the disease with no expected improvement, and the pain caused by long-term illness may have contributed to the suicide was also cited as the basis for the decision.

※ If you have concerns that are difficult to talk about, such as depression, or if you have family or acquaintances around you who are experiencing such difficulties, you can receive 24-hour expert counseling from the suicide prevention hotline ☎109 or the suicide prevention SNS counseling site “Madelan” (www.129.go.kr/etc/madlan).