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ODD AND UNUSUAL SITUATIONS

In Bosch v St. Louis Healthcare Network, 41 S.W.3d 462 (Mo.banc 2001), the Appellant’s wife, a nurse, pricked herself with an infected needle at work and contracted Hepatitis C. The Appellant sued St. Louis Healthcare Network for loss of his wife’s consortium and negligent inflection of emotional distress. The Court dismissed the case and the Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal holding that the exclusivity of workers’ compensation applies to spouses for claims on account of the covered injury, Section 287.120.2. Further, loss of consortium is a derivative claim that arises out of the original covered injury to the spouse and is barred. With regard to the Appellant’s claim for negligent of emotional distress, the Supreme Court noted that such a claim is independent of and not a derivative from the injury of the covered worker, but that the Appellant failed to allege all the elements of a negligent affliction of emotion distress claim.

In Cook v St. Mary’s Hospital, 939 S.W.3d 934 (Mo.App. W.D. 1997), a home health aide who injured her back dodging a wild bird which had flown down the chimney was found to have a compensable accident. It was found that the open, defective chimney damper was “a substantial factor” in causing her to be at greater risk than the public in general.

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