New Mexico § 52-3-32 - Occupational diseases; proximate causation

§ 52-3-32. Occupational diseases; proximate causation

The occupational diseases defined in Section 52-3-33 NMSA 1978 shall be deemed to arise out of the employment only if there is a direct causal connection

between the conditions under which the work is performed and the occupational disease

and which can be seen to have followed as a natural incident of the work as a result

of the exposure occasioned by the nature of the employment and which can be fairly

traced to the employment as the proximate cause. The disease must be incidental to the character of the business and not independent

of the relation of employer and employee. The disease need not have been foreseen or expected but after its contraction must

appear to have had its origin in a risk connected with the employment and to have

flowed from that source as a natural consequence. In all cases where the defendant denies that an alleged occupational disease is

the material and direct result of the conditions under which work was performed, the

worker must establish that causal connection as a medical probability by medical expert

testimony. No award of compensation benefits shall be based on speculation or on expert testimony

that as a medical possibility the causal connection exists.