Lack of Evidence on Suicide, Opioids Sends Postal Worker’s Widow’s Case Back to OWCP

Federal Focus

When it came to deciding whether a federal worker's suicide resulted from his job, as was required to establish the compensability of death benefits to his widow, ECAB found that OWCP needed another shot at the case to uphold its end of the deal. Simply Research subscribers have access to the full text of the decision.

Case

K.P. and U.S. Postal Service, No. 23-0936 (ECAB 05/12/25)

What Happened

A postal worker who had bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome for which he stopped working due to authorized surgery took his own life at the age of 48. According to his widow, who filed a claim for compensation, intractable pain from the worker's right hand triggered the suicide.

A medical report noted that the worker was being maintained on high doses of opioid medications until he began a process of weaning off of them.

The widow produced medical reports dating back to 2011 that revealed that the employee's phalanges were deteriorating and that debilitating pain rendered his hands unusable.

The widow also reported that during the week of the worker's death, he had been in more pain than ever and was desperate to find a doctor to treat his condition so that he could have a quality of life. He was prescribed Clonazepam, which he had been taking for a few years.

The worker's autopsy report indicated that anxiety was an "an other significant condition" and that the worker's ethanol level was considered by the State of New York as intoxicated.

Ultimately, the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs denied the widow's claim, finding that evidence did not demonstrate an unbroken chain of causation between the employment-related injury and the worker's suicide.

OWCP made its decision based on a medical report opining that the "main factors causing the suicide" were opiate dependence and alcohol intoxication combined with family history, past psychiatric history, childhood trauma, and relationships. The report also noted that the worker had been prescribed opiates for multiple surgeries over the years, and it was unclear when opiates were last used and whether he could have been in withdrawal.

The widow sought review from the Employees Compensation Appeals Board.

Rule of Law

To establish a claim that a deceased employee sustained stress in the performance of duty that precipitated his death, a claimant must submit:

(1) Factual evidence identifying and supporting employment factors or incidents alleged to have caused or contributed to the worker's condition.

(2) Rationalized medical evidence establishing that the worker's death was due to or aggravated by an emotional reaction.

(3) Rationalized medical opinion evidence establishing the identified compensable employment factors were causally related to the worker's death.

The suicide itself must arise out of the employee's assigned duties to such an extent as to be regarded as arising out of and in the course of employment. OWCP's procedures provide that, if the injury and its consequences directly resulted in a mental disturbance or physical condition that produced a compulsion to take one's own life and disabled the employee from exercising sound discretion or judgment so as to control that compulsion, the suicide is compensable so long as the chain of causation from the injury to the suicide remains unbroken.

What ECAB Said

According to ECAB, the case was not in posture for decision because OWCP was required to complete development of the record by procuring medical evidence that would resolve the issue of whether a work-related condition caused the worker to take his life.

In particular, the record contained evidence from a physician that chronic pain was a suicide risk factor, and one of the "main factors" that caused the worker's suicide was opiate dependence. On the other hand, this physician also opined that it was "difficult to conclude" that the worker's death by suicide was a direct result of the accepted work-related injury.

ECAB sent the case back to OWCP to obtain a supplemental opinion from the physician to clarify whether the worker's employment related condition, including his history of opioid use in relation to those conditions or the weaning off of those medications caused or contributed to his depression or anxiety, leading to his suicide.

Takeaway

Federal Employees' Compensation Act proceedings are non adversarial in nature. While a federal workers' compensation claimant has the burden of proof to establish entitlement to compensation, OWCP shares the responsibility in the development of evidence to see that justice is done.

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