Massachusetts has a progressive law which recognizes police stress, as well as corrections stress and fire fighter stress, as a causative factor in cardiac related disability. The law saves both the police officer and the state from costly and, for the officer, police stress increasing, litigation. It should be a model law for other states.

GENERAL LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS

Chapter 32: Section 94. Impairment of health caused by hypertension, etc., resulting in
disability or death of paid fire or police department member; presumption.

Section 94. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary affecting the
non-contributory or contributory system, any condition of impairment of health caused by
hypertension or heart disease resulting in total or partial disability or death to a uniformed member of
a paid fire department or permanent member of a police department, or of the police force of the
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, or of the state police, or of the public works building
police, or to any employee in the department of correction whose regular or incidental duties require
the care, supervision or custody of prisoners, criminally insane persons or defective delinquents, or to
any permanent crash crewman, crash boatman, fire controlman or assistant fire controlman employed
at the General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, shall, if he successfully passed a
physical examination on entry into such service, or subsequently successfully passed a physical
examination, which examination failed to reveal any evidence of such condition, be presumed to have
been suffered in line of duty, unless the contrary be shown by competent evidence.

As used in this section the words "permanent member of a police department" shall include a
permanent member of the park police of a city or town.