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Muhammad v. Laidlaw Transit6/24/2005
On June 25, 2003, Alejandro Muhammad filed an action as the surviving spouse of, and on behalf of the minor child of, Dylana Muhammad ("the employee"), seeking benefits under the Alabama Workers' Compensation Act ("the Act"), ยง 25-5-1 et seq., Ala. Code 1975. Laidlaw Transit, Inc. ("the employer"), timely filed its answer on August 1, 2003. The case was tried on December 15, 2003. On December 29, 2003, the trial court entered a judgment in favor of the employer. Thereafter, the employee's surviving spouse, on behalf of himself and the employee's child, filed a notice of appeal on January 16, 2004. We affirm.
The record reveals that the employee drove a bus for the employer. As part of her normal daily route, the employee transported severely handicapped children to and from school. A Huntsville municipal aide, Priscilla Hamel, rode along with the employee in the bus to assist her with and to take care of the handicapped children. In addition to her normal route, the employee sometimes drove students to school competitions and other events. The employee drove several students to an out-of-town band competition on September 27, 2001. The employee did not return home until after midnight. After approximately four or five hours of sleep, the employee returned to duty at approximately 6:00 a.m. On the afternoon of September 28, 2001, while driving a bus for the employer (but after having completed her drop-offs of students), the employee had a seizure that resulted in the employee's death.
The employee had a prior history of epilepsy, including no fewer than three seizures. At the time of her death, she was being treated with medication prescribed by Dr. Tejanand Mulpur, a licensed neurologist. In his deposition, the transcript of which was admitted into evidence at trial, Dr. Mulpur indicated that the employee had not had a seizure for "quite some time" before the seizure she suffered at work on September 28, 2001. He testified that the employee's last seizure had been "a few months ago." Mulpur testified that the September 28, 2001, seizure led to "cardiopulmonary arrest and then that led to brain damage, from which [the employee] never recovered, and that's how she died."
Dr. Mulpur characterized the seizure that led to the employee's death as a "break-through seizure." He testified that whenever a patient has a break-through seizure, the medical community tries to look for the cause of that seizure; he added that there were a number of potential causes for the September 28, 2001, seizure. Among the possible causes identified by Dr. Mulpur were lack of sleep, fatigue, and stress. Dr. Mulpur also testified that seizures can result from a patient's failure to take his or her medication or from not eating. Additionally, Dr. Mulpur testified that break-through seizures, like the one experienced by the employee, can simply occur for no reason.
Dr. Mulpur testified that he had no personal knowledge of whether or not the employee had taken her medication on September 28, 2001. However, he did testify that the employee's lack of break-through seizures over several months warranted an inference that she had been taking her medication and that it was working.
Dr. Mulpur opined, based upon "assumed facts," that "added stress and sleep deprivation" caused the employee's seizure on September 28, 2001, and that the employee died on October 7, 2001, as a result of that seizure. The "facts" that Dr. Mulpur was asked to assume in his testimony were that "prior to the seizure that led to [the employee's] death, employment exposed her to a stressful condition, more so than her average work day" (emphasis added). However, Dr. Mulpur indicated that the employee's having dri
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