Section 88 Death or disability compensation
Section 88. An officer or enlisted person of the armed forces of the commonwealth, while performing any military duty lawfully ordered under any provision of this chapter, or a person not a member of the armed forces of the commonwealth, but who is the owner, or is employed by the owner of a motor vehicle lawfully loaned to or hired by the commonwealth under section eighty-nine and whose services are loaned or given to the commonwealth for any purpose set forth in said section, or a person rendering assistance to any of the armed forces of the commonwealth in connection with the use of a motor vehicle under any provision of section eighty-nine by request or order of any responsible officer of said armed forces and who by reason of such voluntary action, employment or assistance and without fault or neglect on his part, receives any injury, is disabled, or contracts any sickness or disease, incapacitating him from pursuing his usual business or occupation, shall, during the period of such incapacity, receive compensation to be fixed by a board appointed under the provisions of section ninety to inquire into his claim, and actual necessary expenses for medical services and care, medicines and hospitalization, replacement or repair of eyeglasses, dentures or prosthetic devices worn or carried. In case of death resulting from such injury, sickness or disease, except in the case of any such death for which compensation is payable under the provisions of the second paragraph of this section, compensation shall be paid to the decedent’s dependents, as determined in accordance with clause (3) of section one and section thirty-two of chapter one hundred and fifty-two, in the amounts provided by and otherwise subject to section thirty-one of said chapter; provided, that dependents other than widows and children shall receive compensation to be fixed by said board, which shall exercise all the powers given by said provisions of chapter one hundred and fifty-two to the division of industrial accidents.
In the case of the death of a member of the Massachusetts National Guard resulting from injury, sickness, or disease received while in the line of duty pursuant to orders under titles 10 and 32 of the United States Code or chapter 33, and that injury, sickness or disease resulting in the death was not the result of fault or neglect on the part of the decedent, a single payment of $100,000 shall be paid to the surviving spouse. If there is no surviving spouse the amount shall be paid to the child, or children in equal shares, of the decedent. If there is no surviving spouse and no child or children, the surviving mother and father of the decedent, if the father and mother were dependent on the decedent for support at the time of his death each shall each receive $50,000. If only 1 parent survived the decedent or only 1 parent was dependent on the decedent for support, that parent shall receive $100,000. The standard for dependency shall be determined in accordance with clause (3) of section 1 and section 32 of chapter 152. All claims presented under the provision of this section shall be made in accordance with the procedure provided for under section 90.