Decision  Carolyn Hicks v. Boston Medical Center

Date:	11/19/2002
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
• Self Insurer: Boston Medical Center

MAZE-ROTHSTEIN, J. The employee appeals from a recommittal decision addressing the issue of whether a flu shot given to the employee by the employer hospital, which caused optic neuritis (blindness), arose out of the employment. The administrative judge who originally decided the case awarded benefits, but made no findings on the facts surrounding the administration of the flu shot, other than its having been offered by the hospital to its employees and the general public. Hicks v. Boston Medical Ctr., 15 Mass. Workers’ Comp. Rep. 1, 3 (2001).¹ As that judge ended her service with the department prior to the recommittal, the case was heard de novo before a different administrative judge. At the hearing, the employee testified to the circumstances of her receiving the flu shot. The judge concluded that the flu shot did not benefit the employer hospital, and therefore denied and dismissed the employee’s claim. We reverse the decision, and reinstate the originally awarded benefits.

¹ We rejected the self-insurer’s argument that the employee was barred from compensation by virtue of her receiving the flu shot during her lunch hour. Hicks, supra at 4-5. We therefore need not discuss that factor in this decision.