7-2400-14659-2

 

STATE OF MINNESOTA

OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

 

In the Matter of the Claim for Public Safety Officer’s Benefits for Michael Waldoch (Deceased).

FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS, ORDER AND MEMORANDUM

         

This matter came on for contested case hearing before Administrative Law Judge Richard C. Luis on November 13 and 14, 2003, at the Office of Administrative Hearings in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Counsel for the parties filed posthearing briefs and replies.  The hearing record closed on December 23, 2003, with the receipt of the final reply brief.

Appearing on behalf of the Claimant, Margaret (Peg) Waldoch (on behalf of the Estate of Michael Waldoch), was Thomas D. Mottaz, Attorney at Law, 2150 Third Avenue North, Suite 220, Anoka, Minnesota 55303.  The Department of Public Safety was represented by Sheila M. Fitzgerald Steichen, Assistant Attorney General, 445 Minnesota Street, Suite 1800, St. Paul, MN 55101-2040.

NOTICE

          Under Minn. Stat. § 299A.43, this Order is the final decision in this case and the Commissioner of Public Safety or any other person aggrieved by this decision may seek judicial review pursuant to Minn. Stat. §§ 14.63 through 14.68.

 

STATEMENT OF ISSUE

Is the Claimant entitled to the benefit payment afforded by Minn. Stat. § 299A.44 to police officers “killed in the line of duty” as a result of the fatal heart attack suffered by Michael Waldoch?

Based on all the proceedings herein, the Administrative Law Judge makes the following:

          FINDINGS OF FACT

1.                 Michael Waldoch worked for the police department of the City of Saint Peter (City) from May 23, 1988 until his death on June 5, 2000.  Prior to his employment with the City, he worked as a police officer for the City of Le Sueur.  He was 42 years old in the summer of 2000.  In his position with the City, Waldoch performed the duties of a patrol officer.

2.                 Officer Waldoch married in 1985, and had two daughters, Nicole, currently age 16, and Stephanie, now 13.

3.                 The City’s police department used a rotating shift schedule.  Officers worked eight-hour shifts (day shift from 11 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., power shift from 7:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m., and third shift from 3:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.) and rotated on a weekly schedule between these shifts.  Waldoch worked significant amounts of overtime, particularly during periods of flooding and the aftermath of a tornado on March 29, 1998.  The City moved to twelve-hour shifts to address public safety needs following the tornado.

4.                 Officer Waldoch experienced panic attacks.  These incidents were often related to the stress he experienced through his work.  His panic attacks were also triggered by concerns Waldoch had about his health and his finances.  Beginning in 1993, Waldoch began receiving psychological services from Theodore Surdy, Ph.D., L.P., to address these difficulties.  The symptoms experience by Officer Waldoch in these panic attacks were described as follows:

Michael has reported accelerated heart rate; sweating; trembling; sensations of shortness of breath; chest pain; chest discomfort; abdominal distress; feeling of choking (lump in his throat); felling (sic) dizzy, unsteady, lightheaded, derealization (feelings of unreality) or depersonalization; fear of losing control or going crazy; fear of dying; fear of having a heart attack, fear of having stomach cancer or some other disease; [and] Paresthesia [numbness or tingling sensations].[1]

5.                 Beginning in 1995, Waldoch began taking Lipitor (a cholesterol-lowering medication) to address high levels of cholesterol discovered in his bloodstream.  The medication was effective in controlling his ongoing levels of cholesterol.

6.                 In the Fall of 1999, Officer Waldoch’s panic attacks increased.  The frequency and severity of these attacks increased to the point that Waldoch took a two-week leave of absence from his job to reduce the stress he was experiencing.

7.                 At the conclusion of his leave, the City’s new police chief wanted an independent assessment of whether Waldoch was ready to return to work.  Waldoch considered this to be an effort to remove him from the City’s employment and he felt stress due to this perception.  Two psychologists examined Officer Waldoch to determine that he was fit to return to police work.  Dr. Surdy completed one of the fitness evaluations.  The other evaluation was conducted by Ann Orchard, Psy.D., L.P.  Dr. Orchard noted that Waldoch’s family history included his father and grandfather exhibiting behavior consistent with panic attacks and that his mother had three heart attacks.[2]  Both psychologists concluded that Officer Waldoch was fit for duty and he returned to work with the City in late September 1999.[3]

8.                 In late May 2000, Officer Waldoch worked the 7:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. shift for two weeks, concluding on the morning of June 2, 2000.  He did not indicate to anyone that any unusually stressful incidents had occurred during this period.

9.                 On June 3, 2000, Waldoch spent about two hours laying sod in his yard.  At approximately 1:30 p.m., he took a break from that activity.  His wife observed that he did not appear to be his normal self.  She inquired as to how he was doing.  Waldoch responded that he “didn’t feel good.”[4]  He related that he felt nauseous and that he needed to cool down.  Officer Waldoch took some aspirin and laid down to rest.

10.             At about 3:15 p.m. on June 3, 2000, Officer Waldoch went to the emergency room at the Minnesota Valley Health Center in Le Sueur complaining of chest pain.  The hospital did not diagnose a heart problem.  The report prepared of that visit described his symptoms as follows:

Michael presents to the Emergency Room complaining of epigastric pain radiating into his chest.  He reports that he had been outside lifting sod or laying sod all day when he began to experience an epigastric-type pain which he localizes in the high epigastric region subcostally.  He indicates that it radiates to the midsternal region.  He describes this pain as a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.  He reports that it is wave-like pain in consistency.  Its onset was approximately one hour prior to arrival in the Emergency Room.  He indicates provoking to be unknown to him, but he does report physical activity with no oral intake over the past eight hours today.[5]

11.             Ativan and a “GI cocktail” was administered which alleviated much of Mr. Waldoch’s pain.[6]  When the pain abated, Waldoch was discharged from the emergency room with additional pain medication and advised to rest, increase his fluid intake, and come back if the symptoms returned.[7]

12.             After experiencing pain symptoms overnight and during the following day, Waldoch returned to the emergency room at 8:45 p.m. on June 4, 2000.  His symptoms at that time included chest pain, radiating into his left arm.  Early on June 5, 2000, medical staff at the emergency room concluded that Officer Waldoch should be transported to Abbott Northwestern Hospital by air ambulance.  Before the transfer could be initiated, he suffered a massive heart attack.  Despite the efforts of the medical staff, Officer Waldoch could not be revived.[8]  He was pronounced dead at 4:26 a.m.

13.             An autopsy was performed on Michael Waldoch on June 5, 2000.  The findings of the autopsy showed that the cause of death was acute myocardial infarction caused by occlusion of an artery.[9]

14.             A workers’ compensation claim was filed on behalf of Michael Waldoch’s children and surviving spouse (the Claimant in this matter).  As part of that proceeding, Dr. David Berman, M.D., prepared an evaluation based on Waldoch’s medical records.  After reviewing those records, Dr. Berman wrote:

My opinion is that Mr. Waldoch’s work activity as a police officer was not a significant contributing factor to the development of his coronary heart disease or his fatal myocardial infarction.  Particularly, there is no evidence of significant stress at the time of his fatal heart attack, and although his duties as a police officer were sometimes stressful, I do not find evidence that this stress contributed to his underlying arteriosclerotic coronary heart disease.

* * *

I do not believe that the panic attacks were significantly related to his underlying heart disease or to his fatal heart attack, but rather were a separate medical problem.[10]

15.             The parties to the workers’ compensation claim were the Claimant and the City.  Two insurance companies intervened in that matter.[11] The Commissioner of Public Safety was not a party to the proceeding.  On April 6, 2001, a stipulation was entered into between the parties that settled the worker’s compensation claim.  The Claimant maintained in the stipulation that Waldoch’s “death arose out of and in the course and scope of his employment with the employer, City of St. Peter.”[12]  The City denied that his death was related to his position as a police officer with the City.[13]  In addition to resolving these claims, the stipulation included the following:

It is further stipulated by and between the parties that the employee’s myocardial infarction and death meets the criteria of Chapter 299A in that the parties stipulate that the decedent was a public safety officer killed in the line of duty by reason of said myocardial infarction.[14]

16.             On May 14, 2001, the Claimant filed an application for Public Safety Officer Survivor Benefits with the Department of Public Safety (DPS).[15]  Included with the application was the certificate of death indicating that the cause of Officer Waldoch’s death was “myocardial infarction with fatal arrhythmia hypercholesterolemia,” and describing the cause of death as “natural.”[16]

17.             On May 17, 2001, DPS denied the application for benefits.[17]  DPS staff concluded, “that Mr. Waldoch’s case does not meet the definition of ‘killed in the line of duty’ and therefore his case is denied.”[18]  The denial letter noted that a contested case appeal of the decision was available.

18.             The Claimant appealed the denial of the application.  On December 28, 2001, the Commissioner of Public Safety issued the Notice and Order for Prehearing Conference that initiated this contested case proceeding.

19.             On August 13, 2002, the ALJ issued an Order denying DPS’s Motion for Summary Disposition.  The Motion proposed to bar the claim because Officer Waldoch was not performing police work when he suffered the fatal heart attack.  The ALJ ruled that the Claimant would be allowed to attempt to prove that the heart attack was caused by stress incurred while Waldoch performed his duties as a peace officer.

20.             The parties subsequently put the contested case on “hold” while the Claimant pursued a medical malpractice action.  The hearing was placed back on the ALJ’s calendar in the Fall of 2003.

Based upon the foregoing Findings of Fact, the Administrative Law Judge makes the following:

CONCLUSIONS

1.                 Any of the foregoing Findings of Fact more properly termed Conclusions are hereby adopted as such.

2.                 The Department of Public Safety and the Administrative Law Judge have jurisdiction in this matter under Minn. Stat. §§ 14.55 and 299A.43.

3.                 DPS gave proper notice of the contested case proceeding in this matter and fulfilled all other relevant substantive and procedural requirements of law and rule.

4.                 As a licensed peace officer, Michael Waldoch meets the definition of a “public safety officer” for the purposes of the public safety benefit statute, Minn. Stat. §§ 299A.41-.46.

5.                 The Claimant, Peg Waldoch, was legally married to Michael Waldoch at the time of his death.  The Claimant meets the definition of “spouse” set out in Minn. Stat. § 299A.41, subd. 5.

6.                 The Claimant has the burden of proof to show that she is eligible for Public Safety Officers’ Benefits.  To meet this burden, she must show, by a preponderance of the evidence, that her spouse was killed in the line of duty as defined by Minn. Stat. § 299A.41, subd. 3.

7.                 The Claimant has not shown by a preponderance of the evidence that Michael Waldoch was killed in the line of duty within the meaning of Minn. Stat. § 299A.41, subd. 3.  Therefore, she is not entitled to Public Safety Officers’ Death or Education Benefits.

          Based upon the foregoing Conclusions, the Administrative Law Judge makes the following:

 

ORDER

IT IS ORDERED that the claim for Public Safety Officers’ Benefits for Michael Waldoch (Deceased) is DENIED, since the officer’s death did not occur in the line of duty within the meaning of Minn. Stat. § 299A.41, subd. 3.

Dated this

22nd

day of

January

2004.

                                                                

 

/s/ Richard C. Luis

RICHARD C. LUIS

Administrative Law Judge

 

MEMORANDUM

          In 1990, the Legislature established the public safety officer’s benefit account.[19]  This account provides for a death benefit and educational benefits to be paid to the surviving spouse and children of a peace officer, fire fighter, emergency medical technician, or other identified first responders, when that person is killed in the line of duty.[20]  The phrase “killed in the line of duty” is defined in the statute as follows:

Subd. 3. Killed in the line of duty. "Killed in the line of duty" does not include deaths from natural causes. In the case of a peace officer, "killed in the line of duty" includes the death of an officer caused by accidental means while the peace officer is acting in the course and scope of duties as a peace officer.[21]

          Michael Waldoch was a licensed peace officer within the meaning of the statute.[22]  The claim for the public safety officer benefit was made by his spouse, who was legally married to Officer Waldoch at the time of his death.[23]  The only issue presented by this matter is whether Waldoch was “killed in the line of duty,” within the meaning of Minn. Stat. § 299A.41, subd. 3.

          No party disputes that Waldoch was off-duty when he suffered the heart attack that caused his death.  He went off-duty at 3:00 a.m. on June 2, 2000.  He exhibited the first symptom of a heart attack at 1:30 p.m. on June 3, 2000.  The record contains no evidence of a triggering event for that heart attack that could have occurred while Officer Waldoch was on-duty.  He was engaged in heavy physical labor immediately prior to the first symptoms of his heart attack.  These facts support a conclusion that Michael Waldoch was not killed in the line of duty within the meaning of Minn. Stat. § 299A.41, subd. 3.

          The Claimant maintains that Waldoch’s heart condition was caused by the stress that he experienced in his job as a peace officer.  It is this condition, Claimant argues, that is the cause of Officer Waldoch’s heart attack.  The Claimant maintains that the stress causing Michael Waldoch’s heart condition brings his death within the “killed in the line of duty” standard of the statute.  DPS maintains that there is insufficient evidence to support a conclusion that on-the-job stress caused Waldoch’s heart attack.

          The Minnesota Supreme Court has held that a public safety officer suffering a fatal heart attack while on a call qualifies for the public safety officer death benefit.[24]  The Court later clarified the scope of qualification for the benefit by requiring that there be a “death resulting from the performance of those duties peculiar to a peace officer that expose the officer to the hazard of being killed.”[25]

          In this matter, the medical professional relied upon by DPS found that there was no connection between Officer Waldoch’s on-the-job stress and his heart attack.[26]  Dr. Runciman, a treating physician for Michael Waldoch, opined that the heart attack was caused by “atheroschlerotic heart disease brought on primarily due to the stresses in [Mr. Waldoch’s] world, particularly vocational.”[27]

          Dr. Runciman’s opinion regarding the cause of Officer Waldoch’s heart disease is based on research that he described as follows:

There have been notations in the literature suggesting a higher than normal incidence between cardiovascular disease and panic disorder than in the general population, which would suggest that this would also – I mean, this would factor into [Mr. Waldoch’s] development of cardiovascular disease, as well.

* * *

They found that there was a relationship of those with panic disorder and underlying cardiovascular disease, but they did not find the reverse.  So it would seem that the panic disorder is in some way causative of the cardiovascular disease, but there’s no clear delineation of why.[28]

          Some of the literature that Dr. Runciman examined consisted of general surveys of coronary heart disease in various populations, including police officers.[29]  In these surveys, police officers consistently showed a higher than normal incidence of coronary heart disease.  One survey conducted a statistical regression analysis to account for other risk factors present in the population and concluded that “the results of this study suggest that employment as an LEO [law enforcement officer] is associated with a higher incidence of CVD [cardiovascular disease] than that of the general population and that this occupation appears to be an independent contributor to CVD.”[30]  Psychological stress has been identified as a risk factor in heart disease.[31]  While all of the cited studies note statistical evidence of an increased risk of heart attack for police officers, none of these studies demonstrate a causal relationship between police work and heart attack.

The research is insufficient to support a finding that stress causes an increased build-up of plaque in the arteries, or that stress could lead to the blockage that caused Officer Waldoch’s fatal heart attack.  The most supportive statement in the record for Claimant’s case is in the Iowa study, which finds that employment in law enforcement “appears to be an independent contributor to CVD.”  This general conclusion is too overbroad and vague to support a specific determination that Officer Waldoch’s occupation caused his death.

          Finding a relationship between panic disorders and heart attack is independent from finding that panic disorders cause heart attacks.  That relationship is also independent from finding that a public safety officer was killed in the line of duty.  Officer Waldoch experienced panic attacks brought on by the serious and stressful incidents that he encountered as a patrol officer.  The record is clear that Waldoch also experienced panic attacks brought on by stress he experienced in his personal life, unrelated to his work as a police officer.  The Claimant has not demonstrated that Mr. Waldoch’s panic disorder caused his heart attack.  Claimant has also not demonstrated that any trigger for a panic attack occurred sufficiently close to Mr. Waldoch’s heart attack to show that it was the cause of his death.  Without such demonstrations, the Claimant has not shown that Mr. Waldoch was killed in the line of duty within the scope of the holdings in Ondler and Kramer.  Absent such a showing, the Claimant is not entitled to benefits under Minn. Stat. § 299A.44.

          The parties to the Claimant’s workers’ compensation claim stipulated that Mr. Waldoch’s death meet the standards for being killed in the line of duty within the meaning of Minn. Stat. § 299A.41, subd. 3.  The worker compensation system is independent of the public safety officer benefit process.  There is no jurisdiction by the Department of Labor and Industry or the Workers’ Compensation Judge who approved the stipulation over this benefit process.[32]  Since there is no jurisdiction, the doctrine of res judicata does not apply.[33]  The stipulation does not determine that Officer Waldoch was killed in the line of duty for the purposes of this matter.

          Collateral estoppel is an equitable doctrine that precludes relitigation of an identical issue that was decided in a prior case.[34]  Collateral estoppel may be used in administrative matters where the standards for application of that doctrine are met.[35]  Jurisdiction over the issue to be estopped is a requirement.[36]  The estopped party must be the same as (or at least in privity with) a party in the proceeding that decided the issue.[37]  As discussed above, the workers’ compensation proceeding lacked jurisdiction.  DPS was not a party or in privity with a party in that administrative hearing.  Collateral estoppel cannot be applied to impose the stipulation on this proceeding.

R.C.L.