Anderson v. Campbell Tile Co.

• Decision Date: 22 January 1943
• Docket Number: 15493.
• Parties: ANDERSON et al. v. CAMPBELL TILE CO. et al.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

24 S.E.2d 104

202 S.C. 54

ANDERSON et al. v. CAMPBELL TILE CO. et al.

No. 15493.

Supreme Court of South Carolina

January 22, 1943

Stephen Nettles, of Greenville, for appellants.

Culbertson & Brown, of Greenville, for respondents.

BONHAM Chief Justice.

James Clark, the decedent, an employee of the appellant, Campbell Tile Company, suffered an accident in the course of his employment on June 13, 1941, while he was assisting some others in lifting a heavy terrazzo machine from the truck of their employer, at which time more than his share of the load was thrown on him, resulting in a strain. After the accident he was unable to work, and was shortly thereafter carried to his home, where he remained ill for about ten days, after which time he was taken to the hospital where he died on July 9, 1941.

The respondents, brother and sister of the decedent, instituted proceedings before the Industrial Commission under the Workmen's Compensation Act, Code 1942, § 6851 et seq. following which hearings were had before the single commissioner who, after hearing considerable medical testimony, and other testimony, filed an opinion and award in favor of the claimants-respondents, finding as a fact, among other things: "That as a direct and proximate result of the accidental injury of June 13, 1941, James Clark died on July 9, 1941 from myocarditis and toxemia brought on from extravasation of urine which extravasation resulted from strain, while James Clark had a stricture in his urinary system."

Upon a review of the award, which was had at the instance of the defendants, the majority of the full commission affirmed the award of the single commissioner who, it found, had not "committed error in his findings of fact, his statement of his case, his conclusions of law, nor has he committed error in making favorable award in favor of the claimant in the instant case and, basing it entirely on the testimony which has been analyzed by the commissioners," filed its award on May 15, 1942.

Thereafter the defendants appealed to the Court of Common Pleas for Greenville County, whereupon the appeal was heard by the Honorable G. Dewey Oxner, resident Judge of that County and of the community in which the proceedings came on for review. Following the hearing of the appeal, an order was filed by the presiding Judge affirming the award of the majority of the Industrial Commission. The order, in part, was in the following language:

" There is testimony tending to show that the deceased, James Clark, suffered an accident in the course of his employment, on June 13, 1941, while assisting in the lifting of a heavy iron machine. This accident produced a strain. ***

"The only ground of appeal is to the effect that the evidence discloses no causal connection between the accident and the death of the said James Clark.

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"The only inquiry before this Court is whether there was any evidence to support this finding of fact (by the Industrial Commission); the sufficiency of the evidence being a matter solely for the determination of the commission.

"After careful examination of this record, I am of opinion that there was evidence, if believed by the commission, which would justify its findings.

"There is a sharp conflict in the testimony of the two experts, Dr Nachman and Dr. Wyman. Dr. Wyman, after reading all testimony bearing on the nature of the injuries and the physical findings and symptoms disclosed by the medical testimony and autopsy, concluded that extravasation of the urine was the primary cause of the death of the deceased and that this extravasation was caused by the strain suffered on June 13 1941.

"Counsel for the defendants vigorously urge that this conclusion is without probative value because the record affirmatively shows that there was no extravasation of the urine in this case. Dr. Nachman was of the opinion that there was no extravasation of the urine. However, Dr. Wyman, after considering all the symptoms disclosed by the medical testimony and the autopsy, reached a different conclusion.

"The following extracts are taken from the testimony of Dr. Wyman "'Q. Now, if he had an extravasation of his urinary tract there, do you not think that the pathologist would have noted it on his report? A. He didn't dissect his urethra, he just opened his bladder. He said his bladder was terribly involved, and pus was right on the outside of his bladder. That is a clear picture of extravasation of urine written right by that pathologist.

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"'Q. To what extent would one have to strain himself to cause what you have assumed was the condition of this claimant here, the rupture? A. Mighty little.'

"The fact that Dr. Wyman did not personally examine the patient might go to the weight of his testimony, but would not destroy its probative value. It was entirely a matter for the commission to determine as to whether the theory of Dr. Nachman or that of Dr. Wyman should be accepted."

From the foregoing order, and the judgment thereon, the appellants appealed to this Court upon the sole exception that: "The trial Judge erred in not holding that the only proper conclusion from the evidence was that there was a failure of proof of any causal connection between the accident and the death of James Clark, and consequently that the claimants could not recover."

The appellants, in their brief, admit that the accident which has been referred to herein occurred in the course of the employment of the decedent with his employer. They further admit that a strain resulted from the unequal share of the load being thrown on the deceased when he and others lifted the heavy machine on that occasion. Therefore, the sole question to be determined by this Court is whether there was any relevant, competent evidence to support the finding that there was a causal connection between the strain to which the decedent was subjected, and his death less than four weeks later.

The deceased, a Negro man thirty-three years of age, appears to have performed, and been able to perform, heavy manual labor regardless of the fact that he was suffering from a gonorrheal infection at the time of his injury. The medical testimony is conflicting as to the length of time during which the decedent had had this disease prior to his injury. Dr. H. P. Bailey, a witness for the defendants, testified that shortly after the injury the decedent gave him a case history of having contracted gonorrhea four or five years previously, while other testimony indicated a more brief duration. In either event, when Dr. Bailey was asked on cross-examination: "Doctor, if a man had a gonorrheal infection and condition, and received such a jerk as that, from lifting, it could complicate, or aggravate that gonorrhea?", his answer was in the affirmative.

The appeal in the case centers largely around the testimony of Dr. Marion Wyman, a witness for the claimants, who was admitted to be an expert urologist. Dr. Wyman had not seen the decedent, but had read the medical testimony in the case, and, the material facts of the illness not being in dispute, gave, without objection, his opinion as to the cause of death, based upon the medical testimony, and upon hypothetical questions, and upon his knowledge as an expert, in the following instances, among others:

"I think this autopsy report, Mr. Commissioner, will definitely bear out the opinion that I had before I came up. *** I concluded from the history, and what they found there, plus his autopsy findings, that he had a leak of his urine from his normal urinary tract which infected this tissue. I don't know any other complications of gonorrhea that will cause that picture. I honestly don't; except a rupture of the urinary tract.

"Q. What would cause a rupture of the urinary tract? Would a strain cause it? A. Yes, sir; definitely is the cause of it. *** Extravasation is a very killing thing, which means the spilling of urine out of the normal tract into the surrounding tissue.

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"Q. If a person having an old case of gonorrhea received a strain and died within three or four weeks thereafter, with all the complications indicated by the autopsy there, would you have an opinion as to the cause of death? A. I would think that the strain was the contributory cause of his death. A strain would cause the urinary tract to rupture somewhere, and this urine spilled out into the tissue would cause the toxemia and sepsis, the sepsis and death.

"Q. Doctor, have you ever heard of an ordinary case of gonorrhea without complication by a strain, resulting in death in three weeks or four weeks' time? A. I have practiced medicine for over thirty years, and confined my practice to venereal diseases for twenty-eight years, and I have never seen gonorrhea cause death except through the extravasation of the urine, which was caused by gonorrhea.

"Q. Did I understand you to say that extravasation of the urine there is caused from a strain? A. Yes, sir; if a man can't empty his bladder on account of a stricture ***; so when the...