(a) If a covered Part E employee dies after filing a claim but before monetary benefits are paid under Part E of the Act, and his or her death is from a cause other than a covered illness, his or her survivor can choose to receive either the survivor benefits payable on account of the death of that covered Part E employee, or the monetary benefits that would otherwise have been payable to the covered Part E employee.

(b) For the purposes of this section only, a death “from a cause other than a covered illness” refers only to a death that was solely caused by a non-covered illness or illnesses. Therefore, the choice referred to in paragraph (a) of this section will not be available if a covered illness contributed to the death of the covered Part E employee in any manner. In those instances, survivor benefits will still be payable to the claimant, but he or she cannot choose to receive the monetary benefits that would have otherwise been payable to the deceased covered Part E employee in lieu of survivor benefits.

(c) OWCP only makes impairment determinations based on rationalized medical evidence in the case file that is sufficiently detailed and meets the various requirements for the many different types of impairment determinations possible under the American Medical Association's Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA's Guides). Therefore, OWCP will only make an impairment determination for a deceased covered Part E employee pursuant to this section if the medical evidence of record is sufficient to satisfy the pertinent requirements in the AMA's Guides and subpart J of this part.

[71 FR 78534, Dec. 29, 2006, as amended at 84 FR 3053, Feb. 8, 2019]