Ruff v. Department of Labor & Industries

Two physicians diagnosed Sandra Ruff with porphyria, a rare, mostly hereditary disorder of blood enzymes. They testified before the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals that the condition was caused by her workplace exposure to chemicals during a building remodel. On appeal to the superior court of the Board’s adverse decision on the worker compensation claim, the trial court excluded evidence of the causal relationship between the diagnosis of Ruff’s porphyria and her workplace chemical exposure based on Frye.1 Because the testimony of the two doctors and the methodology of the blood test…