CO Appeals Denial Of Heart Disability Claim; Cites Stress, Jail Food

A retired Correction Officer is asking the New York City Employees Retirement System to reconsider his application for a disability retirement because he suffered a heart attack after 20 years of stress and starchy prison food.

The Chief-Leader/Michael O'Kane SAYS JOB COST HIM HIS HEALTH: Retired Correction Officer Peter Renda Sr. says that 20 years of stress and prison food that were key elements of his job led to the heart attack that forced him to leave the service, but retirement system officials have turned down his application for a disability pension under the Heart Bill.

Peter Renda Sr. sued the city and NYCERS in 2007 to gain a tax-free pension equal to three-quarters of his final salary that he believed he was due under the Heart Bill, which was extended to prison employees in 1999. The Heart Bill states that if an employee's pre-employment physical showed no signs of a heart condition, it is presumed any subsequent problem was job-related, entitling them to disability retirement, unless it could be proven otherwise.

90% Blockage in Heart Artery

In April 2006, Mr. Renda experienced pain, weight loss, weakness, depression, difficulty walking and angina. On April 13, he went to a doctor, who found he had a 90-percent blockage in a coronary artery and implanted a stent in the artery. Eight days later, he filed an application for accident disability retirement because of coronary artery disease.

In August of that year, Mr. Renda was examined by the NYCERS Medical Board, which denied his application. The Medical Board ruled, "There is no hard evidence of obstructive coronary artery disease with a completely normal angiogram two weeks after his PTCA with stent."

An outside doctor found that Mr. Renda's coronary artery disease was "cured" by the stent, but "he developed a cardiac-catherization-related disability in the form of the phlebitis."

Mr. Renda charges he was denied benefits because he partially recovered. "The only thing they have expressed in their finding is that 'you've been treated for it,' which is ridiculous," Mr. Renda said during an Aug. 12 phone interview. "Why did the Governor sign a [heart] bill? There is no 'back' bill. There is no 'leg' bill."

While Mr. Renda's condition improved, he was still unable to go back to work. His doctor prescribed Coumadin, which is a blood thinner that caused him to bleed endlessly from a pinprick. He was also constantly fatigued from seven or eight medications he was prescribed. "I was now put between a rock and a hard place as the Correction Department would not allow me to return to work, and NYCERS had turned me down for a benefit which I am due," Mr. Renda wrote in a letter to this newspaper.

'They Ignored the Law'

As a result, he retired on a normal half-pay pension in September 2006. "I don't understand how do they ignore the law and want to put me in that position," he said.

NYCERS denied several of Mr. Renda's appeals. "It's like, if you're not going in there in a wheelchair, they automatically deny you because NYCERS wants to save the city a lot of money," he said.

His lawyer, Jeffrey Goldberg, said Mr. Renda was discriminated against because he was a Correction Officer. "This is one of the bizarre things about the heart bill," Mr. Goldberg said. "If he was a policemen or firefighter, it would be automatic."

Mr. Renda said he was certain his heart disease stemmed from his career as a Correction Officer because he received a clean bill of health in his physical before entering the department in 1986. He said the stress of the job, combined with eating prison food every day, contributed to his illness. "It's all artery-clogging food filled with a certain amount of calories," he said. "I can almost certainly say that is probably what caused this problem." Jail employees are not allowed to bring food into the facility, and seldom order out.

After Mr. Renda's disability application was denied, he filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn Supreme Court. A court order forced NYCERS to reopen his case in November 2007. Later that month, Mr. Renda met with three doctors from the Medical Board. "And again their questioning was of my current symptoms, medications, etc., but no mention whatsoever of the fact that the Heart Bill is what should dictate my qualification for disability retirement," Mr. Renda wrote.

On May 2, NYCERS notified Mr. Renda once again that it denied his application. He is due before the pension board on Sept. 11. Mr. Goldberg said it was likely Mr. Renda would be denied again.