Aetna Casualty & Surety Company v. Johnson
| Decision Date | 02 May 1960 |
| Docket Number | No. 14024.,14024. |
| Citation | 278 F.2d 200 |
| Parties | AETNA CASUALTY & SURETY COMPANY, Appellant, v. Kittie Lee JOHNSON, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
McAfee Lee of Key & Lee, Knoxville, Tenn., for appellant.
Paul E. Parker of O'Neil, Jarvis, Parker & Williamson, Knoxville, Tenn., for appellee.
Before SIMONS, Senior Circuit Judge, and MILLER and O'SULLIVAN, Circuit Judges.
Kittie Lee Johnson, appellee and plaintiff below, was awarded a judgment under the Tennessee Workmen's Compensation Act because of the death of her husband, Ernest Clay Johnson. He died of a heart attack while at work at the plant of his employer.
Prior to the day of his death, there had been no indication that he was suffering from a heart illness. On the morning of his death, however, he was ill and experiencing symptoms which, after his death, were recognized as being consistent with the onset of a heart attack. He was ill before he left home. He drove to the plant, and there gave some attention to his ordinary duties, but within a short time advised his supervisor that he was not feeling well and wanted permission to go to the plant dispensary. He was taken there by a fellow employee in a truck. He was examined by a doctor in the plant dispensary and described the illness which he had experienced, both at home and at the time he arrived at work, namely, a constricting type sensation, sub-sternal, and in the right hand and shoulder, with tingling of hands and feet. A general examination was made, including an electrocardiogram. The latter was negative as to any demonstrable heart involvement. His blood pressure was found to be 150 over 90. The examining doctor did not at that time conclude that Johnson was suffering from a heart attack. Following the examination, Johnson remained in the dispensary and rested for a couple of hours before returning to work.
He returned to work at about 11:30 in the morning. His work included walking up a flight of stairs and some other physical exertion. While at his work bench shortly after 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon, he toppled over and died. The cause of his death was a coronary occlusion.
Medical testimony at the trial indicated that the symptoms the deceased was experiencing before he left his home that morning, at the time he arrived at the plant, and at the time he was being examined at the dispensary, could have been consistent with, and diagnosed as, evidence of the onset of a heart attack. A heart specialist called by plaintiff testified that a correct diagnosis at the plant dispensary would have called for the deceased's being immediately taken to a hospital, completely immobilized, and given oxygen. The inference from this testimony was, that had those things been done, death might not have ensued. There was also evidence that the period of rest that Johnson took at the dispensary alleviated the symptoms which he was experiencing when he first arrived at the dispensary. His blood pressure lowered somewhat after the rest....
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Sondag v. Ferris Hardware
...p. 27. This concept has found application in the following representative cases from other jurisdictions: Aetna Casualty & Surety Company v. Johnson, 278 F.2d 200 (6 Cir.1960); Southern Stevedoring Co. v. Henderson, 175 F.2d 863 (5 Cir.1949); Dwyer v. Ford Motor Co., 36 N.J. 487, 178 A.2d 1......
-
OBENSCHAIN v. American Mutual Liability Insurance Co.
...D.C., 169 F.Supp. 155, affirmed 6 Cir., 272 F.2d 943, and Johnson v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Company, D.C., 174 F.Supp. 308, affirmed 6 Cir., 278 F.2d 200. No good purpose will be served by reviewing the facts contained in each of those cases except to say that in each case a death occurred......
-
Treadway v. Associated Transport, Inc.
...later in the working day entitled his dependent to benefits. This decision was affirmed by the Sixth Circuit in an opinion reported at 278 F.2d 200. In the case of Sweat v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, 169 F. Supp. 155, this Court held that the evidence established that the de......
-
PDSI v. Peterson
...cited in Sondag for the third test of legal causation even mention the impelled-to-continue language. See, e.g., Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Johnson, 278 F.2d 200 (6th Cir.1960); S. Stevedoring Co. v. Henderson, 175 F.2d 863 (5th For all these reasons, in this and future cases, we abandon any ......