Dehrenbach v. North Jersey Dist. Water Supply Comm'n.
| Decision Date | 16 December 1943 |
| Docket Number | No. 84316.,84316. |
| Citation | 35 A.2d 428 |
| Parties | DEHRENBACH v. NORTH JERSEY DIST. WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION. |
| Court | New Jersey Department of Labor-Workmen's Compensation Bureau |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Proceedings under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Helen Dehrenbach, claimant, opposed by North Jersey District Water Supply Commission, employer, for compensation for death of Fred Dehrenbach, employee.
Judgment for claimant.
This is a proceeding brought by the petitioner, Helen Dehrenbach, wife of Fred Dehrenbach, hereinafter referred to as decedent, against North Jersey District Water Supply Commission, respondent, seeking compensation for herself as a dependent under and by virtue of the provisions of R.S.1937, 34:15-1 et seq., N.J.S.A., ‘prescribing the liability of an employer to make compensation for injuries received by an employee in the course of employment, establishing an elective schedule of compensation and regulating procedure for the determination of liability and compensation thereunder’, together with the several acts amendatory thereof and supplemental thereto.
A dependent's claim petition and an answer thereto were duly filed with the Secretary of the Workmen's Compensation Bureau at Trenton, New Jersey. In regular course the matter came on for formal hearing before me, John J. Stahl, a Deputy Commissioner of Compensation, at the Chambers of the Workmen's Compensation Bureau, Paterson, New Jersey.
Nathan Rabinowitz, of Paterson, for petitioner.
Reid, Kelly & Flaherty, of Newark, for respondent.
STAHL, Deputy Commissioner.
Upon the pleadings and the proofs adduced, the following facts were developed in the evidence: On November 18, 1941, and for a long time prior thereto, petitioner's decedent was employed by the respondent as a guard in and about its Wanaque Reservoir, Wanaque, New Jersey, receiving for his said services wages at the rate of $30.77 per week. On the above day while so employed at or about 3 o'clock in the morning, while patrolling his post alone, decedent slipped on the grass and fell, striking his right groin and scrotum in the fall. At the time of the mishap, decedent was 69 years of age and had been wearing a truss for some years for the relief of a right inguinal hernia from which he was apparently suffering. He developed symptoms of the injury soon after the accident but, despite the pain and discomfort, he continued at work in the respondent's employ until December 2, 1941.
Dr. James S. Stokes commenced treatment of decedent on December 4, 1941 at his office and continued to see him subsequently at his home and finally at the Paterson General Hospital. Dr. Stokes received a history from decedent that on November 18, 1941, while performing his duties as a guard, his feet slide from under him, he fell down, injuring his right groin and testicles. Later his right scrotum swelled and he was in constant pain. On his first examination, Dr. Stokes found evidences of trauma to the right testicle, large hard swelling in the right scrotum, hydrocele, and a possible hernia. After several weeks of treatment and at Dr. Stokes' suggestion, Dr. Theodore Bender's advice was sought. He was examined by Dr. Bender, a surgeon of Paterson, at his office on December 19, 1941, who was told by decedent that he had slipped and fallen, suffering an injury to the right testicle and groin, causing pain and discoloration in that area. Decedent also told Dr. Bender about a previous mishap which had occurred to him about ten years previously when he slipped and fell while carrying a quarter of beef and that he had been wearing a truss on his right side since then. There was no evidence, however, that he had received medical treatment for an inguinal condition prior to November 18, 1941.
Decedent was admitted to the Paterson General Hospital on January 7, 1942, and the hospital record, in evidence, under title ‘Chief Complaint: Date and Mode of Onset, Probable Cause, Course’ reads as follows: ‘Slipped on an embankment on or about November 18, and fell down, injuring rt testicle and causing rt inguinal hernia and bruising scrotum and testes, accident about 3:00 a.m.’
Dr. Bender performed an operation on decedent's right side at the hospital on January 9, 1942, with Dr. Stokes assisting, for the correction of a right inguinal hernia (herniorrhaphy) and right hydrocele, but decedent died at the hospital on January 23, 1942, from a postoperative pulmonary embolism.
Dr. Bender was of the opinion that the accident of November 18, 1941, aggravated a pre-existing hernia and hydrocele, which opinion was also expressed by the physicians, Dr. Samuel Kleiner and Dr. Alvin E. Cortese, the latter two testifying hypothetically. It appeared from the testimony of Dr. Stokes, now in the armed services, as disclosed by Interrogatories and Cross-Interrogatories propounded of him, that there was evidence of recent trauma to the right testicle at the date of his first examination on December 4, 1941.
Petitioner testified that decedent's working hours, as guard for respondent, were between 12 midnight and 8 a.m., that up to the time of the accident he drove his automobile to and from his work each day, and upon his return from work on the morning of November 19, 1941, saw decedent in pain, and upon examination, found that the scrotum was swollen. After Dr. Stokes' examination, she applied ice packs to the injured parts upon his advice. She testified that decedent did not work the day after the accident, although he received his full wages for that day. Petitioner further testified that decedent showed no evidence of suffering from acute symptoms prior to November 18, 1941, and was apparently able to perform his daily work and other normal activities in comfort, but that from the time of his return home after working that day, he manifested acute pain and disability in the region of the right groin which continued to the time of operation.
Exhibit P-1 in evidence was a letter written by the Assistant to Counsel of the respondent to attorneys for petitioner, dated June 21, 1943, in reply to an inquiry by said attorneys, in which letter it was stated that respondent's records show that on November 18, 1941 ‘this man, while patrolling the area, slipped and fell down on the grass.’ Exhibit P-5 in evidence was a copy of the first formal notice of accident prepared on December 5, 1941, by Helen M. McGurk, an employee of respondent, in which it was stated in answer to Question No. 2, ‘Exact part of person injured with nature and extent of injury’, Answer: ‘Pain around the groin, possibility of hernia’, that the probable period of disability was at least two weeks, that medical attention was necessary, and that the attending physician was Dr. James S. Stokes.
Dr. Bender testified that deceased was recovering from the aforementioned operation that he had performed on January 9, 1942, and was about to be discharged from the...
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