Georgia Firefighter With Heart Attack Awarded Workers Compensation Benefits

Recently, we successfully represented a Georgia firefighter in a workers compensation claim against the county for which he worked. The injury he sustained was a heart attack. Needless to say, the employer denied his claim and took the position that his job had nothing whatsoever to do with the injury to his heart. In researching this injury, we learned that forty percent of on-duty firefighter deaths in the last decade were due to heart attack, according to a recent U.S. Fire Administration report. This is an astounding statistic. The fact of the matter is that firefighters are at great risk of suffering a heart attack because of the extreme stress and exertion under which they work when responding to a call.
In our case, our client got a call about a home on fire. With his adrenalin pumping, he jumped into his truck and headed out to the fire. When he arrived, he donned heavy gear and climbed a hill to access the home. He inhaled smoke which filled the air outside of the home and struggled to pull-start a large fan used in the doorway of the home. Ultimately the fire was extinguished and the EMS unit which had been dispatched as a matter of routine, left the scene to head back to the firehouse. As my client began to put equipment on his truck, he felt shortness of breath and a tightening and burning in his chest. EMS returned to the scene. He was later airlifted to a major hospital where he underwent testing and stent placement. In this case, our client’s heart attack occurred a day later, while undergoing a stress test on a treadmill.
In our opinion, the case turned on the testimony of his cardiologist who we deposed early on in the case. It was the cardiologist’s explanation of the mechanism of injury which made the difference in this case. He testified that most people have atherosclerosis and that there are events that cause the atherosclerotic plaque to rupture. When the plaque ruptures, the endothelium denudes itself and exposes collagen to the bloodstream. Platelets attach to the collagen and recruit a blood clot to form, which causes the obstruction/blockage. He further testified the stress of fighting a fire raises your blood pressure, anxiety associated with it, smoke in the lungs; all of these are precipitating events. He went on to explain how smoke inhalation precipitates a heart attack. “The smoke contains carbon monoxide. It helps increase inflammation. Inflammation causes the plaque to become soft and split. This process can occur over an acute time period of an hour or it can be kind of a smoldering process, as it occurred in this case.”
Getting the doctor’s medical opinion on the record early, before the insurance company and their lawyer was able to influence the cardiologist was important. If a firefighter has a heart attack, it is crucial that he or she retain a workers compensation lawyer immediately.