By Bob Katzen

The Public Service Committee held a hearing on a bill that would provide that police, fire and EMT personnel making claims for death, disability or medical services from contagious diseases – who did not evidence any such condition at the time of entry into service – will be presumed to have acquired these contagious conditions in the line of duty. If it can be shown that non-service-connected risk factors accidents, or hazards caused such incapacity, the presumption can be rebutted.

The list of diseases includes COVID-19, Hepatitis A, B or C, TB, HIV and other conditions found by the Commissioner of Public Health to have a statistically significant correlation with police, fire or emergency medical service.

The bill would expand current law which establishes that disability or death of public safety personnel resulting from certain conditions of cancer, as well as disease of the lungs/respiratory tract, is presumed to be caused in the line of duty.

Co-sponsor Rep. Greg Schwartz (D-Newton) said that as a physician he understands the increased risk these public service workers face of contracting infectious diseases. “We ask our first responders to engage with the public in situations that often carry increased risk of personal harm to the responder,” said Schwartz. “They perform invaluable, often lifesaving, service to strangers in the line of duty. It is the least we can do to acknowledge the risk to themselves that they take on to serve others in times of need, and we should support them when that service likely is the cause of disease, disability or death.”