Blanchard v. Travelers Ins. Co., 5068

• Decision Date: 31 May 1960
• Docket Number: No. 5068,5068
• Citation: 121 So.2d 515
• Parties: Louis R. BLANCHARD, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Page 515

121 So.2d 515

Louis R. BLANCHARD, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 5068.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

May 31, 1960.

Rehearing Denied June 29, 1960.

Jos. E. Bass, Jr., Lake Charles, for appellant.

Cavanaugh, Hickman, Brame & Holt, Lake Charles, for appellee.

Before TATE, PUGH, and PUTNAM, JJ.

PUTNAM, Judge.

This is a workmen's compensation suit instituted by Louis R. Blanchard against the Travelers Insurance Company, in which plaintiff alleges that he is totally and permanently disabled as a result of an injury sustained by him on January 2, 1958, while working as a roughneck on a drilling rig operated by John W. Mecom, whose compensation carrier is made defendant herein. The case was tried in the District Court September 11, 1959, and judgment rendered, rejecting plaintiff's demands and dismissing his suit, on January 15, 1960, from which judgment plaintiff prosecutes this appeal. It is conceded that the rate of compensation to be paid plaintiff is the maximum of $35 per week.

The record shows that plaintiff was injured when an airhose connection to a water pump broke, causing a metal-tipped part of the hose to rotate rapidly, striking plaintiff several times about the head, shoulders, and back. He was knocked unconscious by the blows received by him for several minutes and was removed to St Patrick's Hospital in Lake Charles, where he was confined for treatment for eight days. Initially, plaintiff was treated by Dr. V. Hugh Price, a general surgeon of Lake Charles, from the date of the accident until the latter part of March, 1958, at which time Dr. Price referred him to Dr. M. E. Faulk of Beaumont, Taxas, a neurosurgeon, who saw plaintiff on several occasions and treated him in conjunction with Dr. Price, who also consulted with plaintiff and treated him until February 17, 1959, when these two doctors discharged him as being fully recovered and able to return to his former occupation as roughneck. Compensation benefits were paid at the rate of $35 per week from the date of plaintiff's injury until February 20, 1959, a period of 59 weeks.

The trial judge, after reviewing the medical evidence, concluded that plaintiff had failed to carry the burden of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that there is a causal connection between the disability of which he now complains and the accident which occurred on January 2, 1958.

Dr. Price and Dr. Faulk agree that plaintiff suffered a conclusion of the brain which rendered him unconscious and resulted in what is called a post-concussive syndrome, which manifested itself by attacks of dizziness and headaches, which were particularly marked whenever plaintiff attempted to climb, do strenuous work, or when he was subject to unusual noises, and even in some instances by the noises made by children at pay in his home. These two doctors also found that plaintiff suffered from high blood pressure, which is a condition he had not experienced before the accident, but which they testified responded readily to medication and was not a result of the traumatic injury received in the accident in question.

It is established that plaintiff had for several years pursued the occupation of roughneck on an oil rig; that he ordinarily worked as a derrickman, but that on the job he held at the time of his injury he was working on the floor of the derrick. He had been examined prior to obtaining this employment some time before his injury, and at that time had not shown any hypertension or high blood pressure and had been approved for the work. It is also established that this man had always performed these strenuous duties in a satisfactory manner and without any physical difficulty.

Prior to his discharge by Dr. Price and Dr. Faulk, plaintiff was examined by Dr. Kirgis, a neurosurgeon of New Orleans, on August 28, 1958, and again on March 5, 1959, after his discharge. Dr. Kirgis concurred in the diagnosis of post-concussive syndrome and was of the opinion that the condition had persisted in this plaintiff longer than was usual, and was disabling. At one time he entertained the thought that plaintiff may have sustained a subdural hematoma, but ruled out that possibility as a result of his later examination. It was further his opinion that plaintiff's condition should be rendered completely asymptomatic in from 18 to 24 months after the date of the accident.

Dr. Posey, a neuropsychiatrist and neurologist also of New Orleans, likewise examined plaintiff on March 5, 1959, and diagnosed his condition as a post-traumatic encephalophathy, which is a dysfunction of the brain following the conclusion, causing the headaches and dizziness of which plaintiff complained. While Dr. Kirgis did not state that the rise in plaintiff's blood pressure was due to this accident, it was his opinion that a more adequate explanation of this condition should be obtained by other examinations if possible; and Dr. Posey, on the other hand, was of the opinion that if the injury was to one of the lower brain centers, the post-concussive state or syndrome and high blood pressure could have occurred at the same time, although this is not normally the case in an injury of this type. It was Dr. Posey's further opinion that plaintiff's symptoms persisted on a physical basis rather than a neurotic or a psychiatric basis, although it is extremely difficult to tell in cases of long duration when recovery might be had from a physical standpoint, yet the symptoms persist as a neurosis.

Plaintiff was also examined on August 8, 1959, by Dr. Sorum, a psychiatrist practicing in New Orleans, who testified that in his opinion the symptoms of headaches, dizziness, etc., whenever plaintiff attempts to do any strenuous work, is subjected to noise, or other upsetting factors, commenced as a bona fide post-concussive syndrome, as found by Drs. Faulk, Price, and Kirgis, but, that at the time of his examination the condition of these symptoms was on a neurotic basis and that the trauma received in the accident on January 2, 1958, was the major precipitating factor in the chain of events leading up to this state, which he reluctantly called a traumatic neurosis. He felt that plaintiff would ultimately recover and be able to return to his job as a roughneck; however, it was his opinion that he was disabled at the time of his examination.

After plaintiff had been examined by Dr. Kirgis, the defendant caused him to be examined by Dr. Levy, a neurosurgeon practicing in New Orleans. Dr. Levy agreed with Dr. Price and Dr. Faulk, stating that he found him symptom-free, with no residual disability from the accident of January 2, 1958, and that he had recovered from the post-concussive syndrome which he experienced. When questioned as to whether his present condition and complaints of headaches and dizziness persisting to the time of his examination of July 11, 1959, were psychiatric, the doctor said he had no opinion as to whether these symptoms could relate to neurosis; that he would leave this to a psychiatrist and would not step 'one inch beyond neurosurgery.'

The testimony of lay witnesses at the trial corroborate plaintiff as to his reactions on the occasions since the accident when he has attempted to do work such as painting a house which necessitated climbing a ladder, fixing a gate, cutting grass, and a few other odd jobs which he was unable to perform satisfactorily, or to complete. It is also significant that on one occasion before he was discharged by Dr. Price and Dr. Faulk, he had attempted to work on an oil rig but could not do so at that time.

We think that it is especially significant in this case that none of the many doctors who examined Blanchard believe him to be feigning the symptoms which he describes. Dr. Faulk and Dr. Price found that he had fully recovered from the post-concussive syndrome and the other effects of this...