Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission

DOOLING, J.

Petitioner seeks review and the annulment of an award and decision made by the Industrial Accident Commission. The award gave a full death benefit to the deceased’s widow and minor children. The award was based on a finding that the employee’s death.was the result of the industrial injury “combined with a non-industrial cancer.”

Prior to October 1957 deceased was suffering from a nonindustrial kidney carcinoma. In October 1957 he fell while

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at work, injuring his back, but he continued to work and did not seek medical care until some time later when he began to suffer back pains. X-rays taken on February 23, 1958, revealed a fracture of the seventh dorsal vertebra of his thoracic spine. His condition deteriorated so that he became a paraplegic in April 1958 and he died in January 1959. The medical testimony indicates that while the industrial injury brought about the death sooner than it would otherwise have occurred, and was thus one of the proximate causes of death, if there had been no injury the carcinoma would of itself probably have resulted in the employee’s death within a year after its actual occurrence.

Petitioner does not question the finding that the industrial injury was a proximate cause of the death or that the dependents were for that reason entitled to an award of death benefits. Its sole argument is directed to the claim that where an industrial injury combined with a preexisting disease to cause the death of an employee, the death benefits must be apportioned by the commission in the proportion that each factor contributes to bring the death about.

Petitioner relies on section 4663 of the Labor Code, which provides: “In case of aggravation of any disease existing prior to a compensable injury, compensation shall be allowed only for the proportion of the disability due to the aggravation of such prior disease which is reasonably attributed to the injury. ’ ’ An examination of the relevant provisions of the Labor Code makes it perfectly clear, however, that section 4663 deals only with the apportionment of compensation to the injured employee for disability suffered by him, and has no reference to the benefits to be paid to an employee’s dependents where his death is industrially caused. Section 4663 is a part of article 3, part 2, division 4, of the Labor Code, the sections of which deal exclusively with the compensation to be paid