Decision  Barbara Beth Soucy v. Beacon Hospice, Inc.

Date:	09/01/2011
Organization:	Department of Industrial Accidents
Docket Number:	DIA Board No. 008792-09
Location:	Boston

• Employee: Barbara Beth Soucy
• Employer: Beacon Hospice, Inc.
• Insurer: Ins. Co. State of Pennsylvania

HORAN, J. The insurer appeals from a decision awarding the employee ongoing § 34 total incapacity and §§ 13 & 30 medical benefits. Because the decision fails to reveal how the employee’s lower back and right leg injury claim yielded an award based, apparently, on sixteen separate diagnoses, and because it does not address whether the insurer’s § 1(7A)¹  defense applies to the employee’s myriad medical conditions, we reverse the decision, vacate the benefit award, and recommit the case for further findings of fact.

¹ General Laws c. 152, § 1(7A) , provides, in pertinent part:

If a compensable injury or disease combines with a pre-existing condition, which resulted from an injury or disease not compensable under this chapter, to cause or prolong disability or a need for treatment, the resultant condition shall be compensable only to the extent such compensable injury or disease remains a major but not necessarily predominant cause of disability or need for treatment.