| Date: | 05/26/2004 |
|---|---|
| Organization: | Department of Industrial Accidents |
| Docket Number: | DIA Board No. 57347-99 |
| Location: | Boston |
- Employee: Marcelle Tull
- Employer: Carney Hospital
- Self Insurer: Archdiocese if Boston/SIG c/o Managed Comp.
MAZE-ROTHSTEIN, J. Relying on the foundational grounds set out in Patterson v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 48 Mass. App. Ct. 586 (2000), the self-insurer appeals from a decision that awarded the employee workers' compensation benefits for a back injury brought on by sneezing at work on February 3, 1999. (Dec. 678) We conclude that the employee's sneezing was incident to the conditions in her employment, and that she neither had to prove the exact causative substance that provoked the sneezing, nor that the work environment was "a major cause" of her sneezing or her back injury, under G. L. c. 152, § 1(7A), as the two did not, and could not, combine "to cause or prolong" the injury or need for treatment. Id. We, thus, affirm the decision.