| Date: | 01/10/2001 |
|---|---|
| Organization: | Department of Industrial Accidents |
| Docket Number: | DIA Board No. 055539-96 |
| Location: | Boston |
| Referenced Sources: | Carolyn Hicks v. Boston Medical Center |
- Employee: Carolyn Hicks
- Employer: Boston Medical Center
- Insurer: Boston Medical Center Group
MCCARTHY, J. The self-insurer appeals a decision of an administrative judge awarding the employee the full statutory entitlement of 156 weeks of temporary total incapacity benefits followed by ongoing partial incapacity benefits at the maximum rate for a work-related optic neuritis which has rendered her legally blind. The self-insurer argues that the decision is contrary to law, because the employee’s blindness, which the judge found to be caused by a flu vaccination administered at her hospital workplace, did not "arise out of the employment." §26. The self-insurer also challenges the adopted medical evidence of the employee’s treating ophthalmologist as being inadmissible due to its lack of a reliable scientific foundation under Commonwealth v. Lanigan, 419 Mass. 15 (1994), and, even if admissible, being insufficient to support the judge’s conclusions. We agree with the self-insurer’s first argument, to the extent that the decision lacks subsidiary findings of fact on the issue of whether the employee’s blindness arose out of the employment. We recommit the case for further findings on that issue and otherwise affirm the decision.