Hospital employees: presumption.

Existing law provides that an injury of an employee arising out of and in the course of employment is generally compensable through the workers' compensation system. Existing law provides that, in the case of certain public employees, the term "injury" includes heart trouble, hernia, pneumonia, human immunodeficiency virus, lower back impairment, and other injuries and diseases. This bill would provide, with respect to hospital employees who provide direct patient care in an acute care hospital, that the term "injury" includes a blood-borne infectious disease, neck or back impairment, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) , or H1N1 influenza virus that develops or manifests itself during the period of the person's employment with the hospital. This bill would further create a rebuttable presumption that the above injury arises out of and in the course of the person's employment if it develops or manifests as specified.