GOVERNMENT SERVICE INSURANCE SYSTEM, petitioner, vs.
FE L. ESTEVES, respondent
G.R. No. 182297 | June 21, 2017
TOPIC:
Health, safety and social welfare benefits
FACTS:
Antonio Esteves, Sr. was employed as a
utility worker at the Gubat District Hospital from December 1978 until the time
of his death on August 5, 2000. His s duties consisted of the following: 1)
prepares beds and distributes bedpans; 2) mops, scrubs, polishes furniture, and
removes dust in the wards; 3) carries patients, distributes clean clothes and
linens, and collects soiled ones; 4) renders personal services to patients and
runs errands for nurses and doctors.
On August 5, 2000, Antonio Esteves, Sr. was
rushed to the hospital due to body weakness, headache and vomiting and later
died.
Believing that the death of her husband was
work-related and compensable, respondent filed a claim for death benefits with
the GSIS. However, petitioner denied respondent’s claim on the ground that
Antonio’s underlying cause of death, Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus,
is not considered as work-related.
ISSUE:
Whether or not Esteves’ disease can be
considered work-related
RULING:
Respondent failed to present sufficient
evidence to establish that the death of the deceased was compensable. It is not
sufficient that the fact of cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or hypertension is
proven; in order to become compensable, certain conditions must be complied
with. The Court explained in Government Service Insurance System v. Calumpiano,
that although cerebrovascular accident and essential hypertension are listed
occupational diseases, their compensability requires compliance with all the
conditions set forth in the Rules. In short, both are qualified occupational
diseases. For cerebrovascular accident, the claimant must prove the following:
(1) there must be a history, which should be proved, of trauma at work (to the
head specifically) due to unusual and extraordinary physical or mental strain
or event, or undue exposure to noxious gases in industry; (2) there must be a
direct connection between the trauma or exertion in the course of the
employment and the cerebrovascular attack; and (3) the trauma or exertion then
and there caused a brain hemorrhage. On the other hand, essential hypertension
is compensable only if it causes impairment of function of body organs like
kidneys, heart, eyes and brain, resulting in permanent disability, provided
that, the following documents substantiate it: (a) chest X-ray report; (b) ECG
report; (c) blood chemistry report; (d) funduscopy report; and (e) CT scan.
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