Article ID: bcb2a6871fc0ef1c2dbc257d115b2b432f5fcc90aad61546186309e5c0de9c77
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URL: https://www.businessinsurance.com/n-h-court-upholds-denial-of-benefits-in-blood-clot-death/
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N.H. court upholds denial of benefits in blood-clot death - Business Insurance Skip to content Register for free Search Search Log In Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers N.H. court upholds denial of benefits in blood-clot death by Work Comp Central Claims Disputes , Workers Comp Coverage , Workplace Safety Apr 13, 2026 The New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld a denial of benefits to the estate of a worker who suffered a pulmonary embolism, fell into water face down and died. Matthew Kelley worked as a carpenter for the Evroks Corp. In April 2023, he was working on a bridge over a river when he suffered a pulmonary embolism. He fell about 8 feet onto the embankment below and then rolled into shallow water, face down, as documented in The Appeal of the Estate of Kelley. Mr. Kelley went into cardiac arrest at the hospital and died. A medical examiner performed an autopsy the following day. He determined that Mr. Kelley’s cause of death was a pulmonary embolus with a contributory condition of water aspiration. Kelley’s estate filed a workers compensation claim. The New Hampshire Department of Labor granted the estate benefits. The insurer for Evroks appealed. The Compensation Appeals Board found that the essential determination was whether the water aspiration was a substantial factor in Mr. Kelley’s death, or whether his death was caused by the embolism and subsequent cardiac arrest. The carrier presented an expert opinion that “the sole cause of [Kelley’s] death was the pulmonary embolism” and that Kelley “was either dead or moribund before he rolled into the water and aspirated.” The CAB found the carrier’s expert persuasive, then concluded that the estate did not carry its burden to prove Kelley’s death arose from his employment. The New Hampshire Supreme Court said there was no dispute that Mr. Kelley was acting “in the course of” employment at the time of his death; the only dispute was whether his death “resulted from a risk created by [his] employment.” The court said the CAB recognized that the essential determination was whether the water aspiration was a substantial factor in Mr. Kelley’s death, or whether his death was caused by the embolism and subsequent cardiac arrest. “The CAB thus properly set forth the contested issue: whether Kelley’s death resulted from a personal risk because his death was caused by the embolism and cardiac arrests, or from a mixed risk because the water aspiration was a substantial contributing factor to his death,” the court said. The CAB “could have been more clear,” the court said, but it conducted the appropriate analysis in concluding that his death arose from a personal risk. The court also said the evidence supported the CAB’s finding, as it had the authority to weigh the persuasiveness of the medical evidence and credit the report of the carrier’s expert over that of the medical examiner. WorkCompCentral is a sister publication of Business Insurance. More stories here . 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