## Facts

- Larry D. Winn worked at Geo. A. Hormel & Co.’s hog-processing plant, which operated an on-site first-aid clinic staffed by a registered nurse.
- During work hours, Larry went to the clinic reporting indigestion-like symptoms, chest pressure, and pain radiating into his arm.
- Evidence indicated Larry was having a myocardial infarction while at the clinic and likely had a high survival chance with prompt treatment.
- The nurse suspected heart problems and offered transport to a hospital emergency room; Larry declined and returned to work shortly after.
- Minutes later, Larry collapsed at the plant and died from sudden cardiac arrest.
- Larry’s widow, as personal representative, alleged the nurse negligently failed to timely diagnose and treat the heart attack and that this negligence caused or contributed to Larry’s death.
- Experts testified the nurse’s care fell below the nursing standard of care and that the lack of treatment led to a fatal cardiac dysrhythmia.

## Issues

1. Whether negligent medical treatment (including omissions) by a trained professional at an employer’s on-site first-aid facility can constitute an “accident” under the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Act.
2. Whether the Workers’ Compensation Court erred by ruling, as a matter of law, that such negligent treatment cannot be an “accident,” regardless of proof of negligence and causation.

## Decision

- The Nebraska Supreme Court reversed the Workers’ Compensation Court’s dismissal and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court held that negligent medical treatment at an employer’s first-aid facility, provided by a trained and qualified professional to a coemployee, may constitute an “accident” under the Act if proven and found to have caused or contributed to the injury or death.
- The court rejected the categorical legal rule that a plant nurse’s omission in treating an injury that has already occurred can never fall within the statutory concept of “accident.”
- The court left negligence and causation determinations to the Workers’ Compensation Court on remand.

## Legal Principles

- Under the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Act, the term “accident” is not limited to an initial work-related traumatic event and may include later, unexpected injuries attributable to employer-provided medical services within the employment relationship.
- Negligent medical care rendered at an employer’s workplace clinic by a trained professional can qualify as a compensable “accident” if the claimant proves (and the factfinder finds) negligence and that it caused or contributed to the employee’s injury or death.
- A tribunal commits legal error when it dismisses a claim based on a categorical interpretation that excludes negligent workplace medical treatment from the statutory definition of “accident,” without permitting fact findings on negligence and causation.

## Conclusion

The court held that negligent treatment by an employer’s on-site clinic professional may be a compensable workers’ compensation accident when proven to have caused or contributed to harm, reversed the dismissal based on a contrary legal rule, and remanded for fact findings on negligence and causation.


Winn v. Geo. A. Hormel & Co., 560 N.W.2d 143 (Neb. 1997)