G.R. No. 89567 October 12, 1990
Anunciacion Abejuro, petitioner, vs. Employees’ Compensation Commission and Government Service Insurance System, respondents.

FACTS

Petitioner Anunciacion Abejuro, a public school teacher, was hospitalized from November 19 to December 7, 1984, for symptoms including fever, headache, dizziness, and chest pains. Initial treatment focused on hypertension and chest pains. Subsequent diagnosis revealed concurrent illnesses: urinary tract infection and cholecystitis (gall bladder disease). An operation for cholecystitis was performed, but her pre- and post-operative periods were complicated by episodes of hypertension, chest pains, and congestive heart failure, requiring continuous treatment and monitoring.
The GSIS denied her claim for compensation benefits for this second confinement, asserting that gall bladder disease was not occupational and her teaching job did not increase the risk of contracting it. The ECC, on appeal, ordered payment only for medical expenses related to her heart ailment, denying hospitalization benefits for the gall bladder disease. Petitioner appealed, arguing her conditions were treated concurrently and inseparably.

ISSUE

Whether petitioner is entitled to full hospitalization benefits for her entire second confinement period, given the concurrent treatment of her compensable heart ailment and non-compensable gall bladder disease.

RULING

The Supreme Court granted the petition and awarded full benefits. The legal logic hinges on the impossibility of segregating the treatment periods for the interconnected illnesses. The medical evidence established that petitioner’s hypertension and coronary artery disease, which are compensable under the law, were not merely incidental but were actively treated alongside the gall bladder condition. These heart ailments caused serious complications during the pre-operative and post-operative phases, directly prolonging her hospital stay.
The Court emphasized that one illness could not be clinically segregated from the other, as a heart condition can be aggravated by gall bladder disease. Medications for both sets of illnesses were administered concurrently throughout the confinement. Therefore, it was impossible to conclusively state that any specific portion of her hospitalization was exclusively for the non-compensable ailment alone. Under these peculiar circumstances, equity and fairness demand that the entire period of confinement be compensable, as the treatment for the compensable disease was integral and continuous. The ECC decision was modified to grant hospitalization benefits for the full period from November 19 to December 7, 1984.