NATION : Ailing Air Controller Told to Work

A 64-year-old air traffic controller who suffered a heart attack in front of the radar screen in 1970 and later underwent quintuple bypass surgery, has been ordered back to work.

Dan Bergan has collected disability payments since he suffered a heart attack. Two years ago, he underwent quintuple heart bypass surgery. When he tried to get the government to pay the medical bill, the Labor Department refused. It told him his latest heart problem was not job-related.

Last month, the department notified Bergan that his $24,000-a-year disability payments would end because he had been cured and ordered him back to work. “It blew my mind to get that letter,” said Bergan. “No way could I do that job now.”