Supreme Court Rules Against Disability Benefit Claim for Chronic Lung Disease After Miner's Death from Lung Cancer

▲ The Supreme Court of Korea

The Supreme Court has ruled against the family of a deceased mine worker who filed a lawsuit seeking disability benefits for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) that the deceased suffered from before his death from lung cancer.

The court determined that disability benefits can only be granted when a medical condition has reached a stabilized state. It concluded that it is difficult to consider the symptoms of COPD as being in a stabilized state while the patient was still undergoing treatment for lung cancer in the same area.

The Third Division of the Supreme Court (Justice Oh Seok-jun presiding) overturned the appellate court's ruling in favor of the plaintiff and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court. The lawsuit was filed by the spouse of the deceased, identified as A, against the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service to cancel the decision to deny unpaid insurance benefits.

A worked as a miner in an anthracite coal mine for 17 years and 9 months. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in September 2019 and passed away from the disease in May 2020 while receiving treatment.

The Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service recognized A's death as a work-related injury and provided survivor benefits and funeral expenses to his spouse.

In November 2022, the plaintiff requested that the agency provide disability benefits for COPD, citing the results of a cardiopulmonary function test conducted at a hospital in March 2020, before her husband's death. When the agency rejected the request, she filed a lawsuit.

The lower courts were divided, with the first trial ruling in favor of the agency and the second trial in favor of the plaintiff. Ultimately, the Supreme Court sided with the agency, stating that the case does not qualify for disability benefits.

The Supreme Court reaffirmed the legal principle that "disability benefits are, in principle, payable when a worker's work-related injury or disease has been cured, or when no further therapeutic effect can be expected and the symptoms have reached a stabilized state, leaving a disability."

In A's case, the court judged that it is difficult to view the symptoms of COPD as stabilized while he was still receiving treatment for lung cancer, as the cancer had not been cured.

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