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457 Mich. 7206/16/1998
Syllabus
This syllabus was prepared by the Reporter of Decisions.
Reporter of Decisions William F. Haggerty
Argued December 10, 1997 (Calendar No. 8).
Hearing referee.
Worker 's Compensation Appellate Commission
On subsequent consideration, Sawyer, P.J., and Bandstra and R. B. Burns, JJ.
Supreme Court remanded the case to the Court of Appeals, 451 Mich 874 (1996).
On remand, the Court, Sawyer, P.J., and Griffin, J., and Bandstra, J. (Docket No. 194743).
218 Mich App 19; 553 NW2d 623 (1996)
FILED JUNE 16, 1998
MARIAN HAGERMAN, In Her Own Behalf And On Behalf of KEITH HAGERMAN, Deceased
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
GENCORP AUTOMOTIVE, Self-Insured,
Defendant-Appellee.
BEFORE THE ENTIRE BENCH
BOYLE, J.
We granted leave to appeal to examine the Legislature's use of the phrase "proximate cause" in MCL 418.375(2); MSA 17.237(375)(2), which provides for survivor's benefits under the worker 's compensation act. We decline to take up the cudgel with regard to the Dissent's scholarly exploration of the evils of judicial legislation or to reconsider the holding in Dedes v Asch, 446 Mich 99; 521 NW2d 488 (1994). Because the circumstances of decedent's death were within the range of compensable consequences under subsection 375(2), we reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and reinstate the decision of the magistrate.
I.
Plaintiff's decedent, Keith Hagerman, worked as a millwright for defendant from April 16, 1984, until December 20, 1989. Decedent sustained a back injury at work on August 25, 1987, while trying to move a five-hundred-pound barrel. He returned to work, but sustained further aggravating injury to his back until he could no longer work as of December 20, 1989. Defendant paid benefits from decedent's last day of work until his death on March 28, 1990.
As part of the medical treatment of the injury, decedent's doctor ordered a myelogram to diagnose the extent of the injury and indicate the desirability of surgery. When decedent underwent this diagnostic medical procedure on March 7, 1990, a nurse advised him that successful recovery from the myelogram required that he consume large quantities of water before and after the procedure. As a result of this medical advice, after leaving the hospital, decedent consumed a sixteen ounce glass of water every ninety minutes.
Decedent suffered from high blood pressure for which he was taking the diuretic drug Aldoril. On the nights of March 8 and 9, decedent was hospitalized. It is undisputed that the high water intake, combined with the diuretic action of the Aldoril, depleted the sodium levels in his body, causing convulsions or seizures, that decedent aspirated gastric contents into his lungs as a result of the convulsions or seizures, which caused pneumonia and coma, and that decedent died of cardiac arrest on March 28, 1990.
Decedent's widow sought death benefits on April 12, 1990. Under subsection 375(2) of the worker's compensation act, when death is not immediate, the survivor seeking death benefits must show that a work-related injury was the "proximate cause" of the death. The magistrate awarded plaintiff benefits, concluding that the requirements of subsection 375(2) had been met by " chain of medical causation [that was], although unexpected and unusual, . . . clear and unbroken." Citing 1 Larson, Workers' Compensation (hereinafter, "Larson"), ยง 13.21, the magistrate reasoned that " he great weight of authority recognizes that the adv
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