Does the New York State Medical Board have jurisdiction to reconsider its denial of an application for a rehearing of a claim for wrongful death?

Roder v. Northern Maytag Co., 297 N.Y. 196, 78 N.E.2d 470, points the way for reversal here. In Roder the claim was disallowed on the ground that claimant had failed to establish causal connection. Not quite seven years after the death of her husband [157 N.E.2d 624] claimant applied for reopening for the purpose of introducing medical proof of causation. The board denied it on the ground that sufficient medical evidence had already been considered. This was in fact erroneous since there had been no such evidence. In March, 1943, seven and one-half years after the death, the board reopened the Roder case and the question on the appeal was as to whether the board had such power after the lapse of more than seven years. We held that such jurisdiction existed. Our rationale was that in reopening in 1943, more than seven years after the death, the board was merely reconsidering its previous denial of an application for rehearing made less than seven years after the death. No reason appears why the same holding should not be made here. In the present case an application for a rehearing was made and [5 N.Y.2d 367] denied much

Page 637

Roder v. Northern Maytag Co., 297 N.Y. 196, 78 N.E.2d 470, supra, clearly holds that when application for reopening is made within the seven years the board, after seven years, may reconsider its denial. In Roder, in the interests of justice we treated what the board did as a reconsideration after seven years of a petition for reopening made within the seven years.