Florida: Isolated Pre-Employment High BP Reading Does Not Cause Loss of Presumption of Compensability

In a split decision, a Florida appellate court held that a single—abnormally high —blood pressure reading taken at an employment physical eight years before a police officer’s claim for workers’ compensation benefits was not “any evidence” of hypertension under the state’s “Heart-Lung” presumption of compensability statute [see § 112.18(1), Fla. Stat.] that favors law enforcement officers. To take advantage of the presumption, a Florida claimant must show, among other things, that he or she successfully passed a pre-employment physical examination that "failed to reveal “any evidence” of the complained condition. The court noted the officer’s medical records from 2001 through the end of 2015 did not reveal any reference to hypertension or to any other elevated blood pressure readings. The court also pointed to expert testimony that the single reading in 2007 could have been the result of “white coat” syndrome—when elevated BP is observed only in a medical setting.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See City of Tavares v. Harper, 2017 Fla. App. LEXIS 15183 (1st DCA, Oct. 24, 2017)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 52.07.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see