Massachusetts General Laws ch. 152 sec. 36A – Death before full payment of compensation for specified injuries; brain damage
Section 36A. In the event that an injured employee who has become entitled to compensation under section thirty-six dies before fully collecting the said compensation, the balance remaining shall become due and payable in a lump sum to his dependents, or if none, to his surviving issue, or if no surviving issue, then to surviving parents, or if no surviving parents then to surviving brothers and sisters. If there are none of the persons described in the preceding sentence remaining to receive such compensation, then the balance of compensation remaining at the death of the employee shall be paid into the special fund in the custody of the state treasurer established under section sixty-five, to be used for the purposes and in the manner prescribed in said section sixty-five.
Where any specified loss, losses or disfigurement under section thirty-six is a result of an injury involving brain damage, payment in total under that section for the sum of such loss, losses or disfigurement resulting from said brain damage shall not exceed an amount equal to the average weekly wage in the commonwealth at the date of injury multiplied by one hundred and five. In no event shall payments be made under this section to any employee where the death of such employee occurs within forty-five days of the injury.