How to Determine if Your Heart Attack is a Work-Related Injury

While lifting heavy boxes into your delivery truck, you feel a tightness in your chest. You choose to ignore it since you have a lot of deliveries to make before the end of the day. You get in your truck to make your first delivery.

But as soon as you get on the road, the tightness gets worse. You now can’t breathe. You collapse behind the wheel, crashing into a telephone pole.

Now here’s the question: Did your job just cause your heart attack?

Workers’ Compensation and Heart Attacks

In most cases, when we think of a worker being injured on the job, it happens in a workplace accident. For example, you are walking to the copier when you trip on a hole in the carpet, causing you to fall and break your ankle. But as we’ve explained in previous blogs, you can claim workers’ comp if you have an illness related to your job, such as a repetitive stress injury. But does this include heart attacks?

According to New Jersey’s workers’ compensation law, coverage will be provided to an employee if he/she can prove with credible evidence that the heart attack was caused by exertion at work. The worker must also prove that the heart attack would not have occurred if that employee was not doing that type of work.

Sounds complicated, right? It can be. That’s why you need an experienced workers’ compensation attorney by your side.

How Can You Prove Work Caused the Heart Attack?

Now comes the really tricky part — how can you prove that your job caused the heart attack?

Let’s take a look at the scenario above. You were doing strenuous activity prior to the accident. With the extra exertion, this could have been a cause of the cardiovascular event.

But you can’t just rely on this information, especially if lifting heavy boxes is part of your routine job. In this case, your medical records are going to help with your claim.

Witnesses may also help with your claim. If someone had seen you strain to lift those boxes into your truck, this could help you in your claim.

Remember, the insurance company is going to do anything it can to claim the heart attack was caused by anything but your job. You need to make sure you have the proper evidence in your claim.

Let the Law Offices of Anthony Carbone Help

For almost 30 years, the Law Offices of Anthony Carbone has been helping injured workers throughout New Jersey. We understand the pain you’re going through and with aggressive representation, we will make sure you are compensated for your injuries. If you are having an issue with workers’ compensation, let us help. Contact our workers’ compensation attorney now for a free consultation.

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