Court Rules in Favor of Bereaved Family After Workers' Compensation Denied for Worker Who Died a Month After Construction Site Fall

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A court has ruled that the bereaved family of a worker who died of a pulmonary embolism a month after suffering a fall accident while on the job must be provided with survivor benefits and funeral expenses.

The Seoul Administrative Court's Administrative Division 7 (Presiding Judge Kang Woo-chan) recently ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by the family of a deceased worker, identified as A, against the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service to cancel the decision to deny survivor benefits and funeral expenses.

A, an employee of a construction company, fell from a 2-meter-high work platform while installing scaffolding at a construction site.

Due to the accident, A was diagnosed with a fractured right ankle and facial lacerations, received inpatient treatment, obtained approval for a work-related injury, and recuperated at home.

A month after the accident, A was found collapsed in the home bathroom, was rushed to the hospital, but ultimately passed away.

According to the National Forensic Service autopsy results, the cause of death was a pulmonary embolism.

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

However, the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service refused payment, claiming that a causal relationship between the injury from the accident and the death was not recognized, prompting the bereaved family to file a lawsuit in response.

Ruling in favor of the bereaved family, the court stated, "Considering the medical opinions, it is highly probable that the deceased developed deep vein thrombosis due to this accident, which progressed to a pulmonary embolism and led to death."

The court based its decision on the court-appointed medical evaluator's assessment that "it is most likely that walking restrictions and blood vessel wall damage caused by the fracture and trauma from the accident led to deep vein thrombosis, and the blood clot progressed to a pulmonary embolism, resulting in death."

The National Forensic Service also stated in its autopsy report that "blood clots were identified in the deep veins of the leg," and that no other trauma or drug influences worth considering as alternative causes of death were found.

The court judged that "the mere fact that death occurred due to a pulmonary embolism 1 month after the accident is not sufficient to deny the causal relationship between the accident and the death."

The court also rejected the argument raised by the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service that a pulmonary embolism could have been caused by an arrhythmia diagnosis A received 5 months prior to the accident.

The court pointed out that the mechanism of arrhythmia is entirely different from that of a pulmonary embolism, and that A had shown no particular symptoms or received additional medical treatment after the arrhythmia diagnosis.

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