Interlake, Inc. v. Industrial Com'n

• Decision Date: 04 February 1983
• Docket Number: No. 56185,56185
• Parties: , 69 Ill.Dec. 122 INTERLAKE, INC., Appellant, v. The INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al. (Frieda Bridgeforth, Appellee).
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 339

447 N.E.2d 339

95 Ill.2d 181, 69 Ill.Dec. 122

INTERLAKE, INC., Appellant, v. The INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al. (Frieda Bridgeforth, Appellee).

No. 56185.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Feb. 4, 1983.

Rehearing Denied April 8, 1983.

Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather & Geraldson, Chicago, Jeremy P. Sackmann, Naperville, for appellant Interlake, Inc.

Law Offices of Peter F. Ferracuti & Associates, A Professional Corporation, Ottawa, Mark F. Cyr, Wheaton, for appellee.

WARD, Justice:

This appeal is from a judgment of the circuit court of Livingston County, which confirmed a decision by the Industrial Commission. In the decision, the Commission affirmed and adopted an arbitrator's award of lifetime benefits to Frieda Bridgeforth, the widow of Henry Bridgeforth, who died while returning home from work at a factory of Interlake, Inc., in Pontiac. Interlake appealed from the circuit court's judgment directly to this court under Rule 302(a)(2) (73 Ill.2d R. 302(a)(2)).

Henry Bridgeforth died on October 4, 1976, at the age of 63. Frieda and he had been married for 33 years, and they had eight children. Two of those children were under 18 years at the time of his death. Billy Bridgeforth was born on October 27, 1960. Johnny Bridgeforth was born August 16, 1964. Henry's widow, Frieda Bridgeforth, remarried on February 12, 1977.

Henry Bridgeforth, the decedent, had worked for Interlake for 10 years. He was a "staker," that is he operated a machine that would "stake" end plates. He would pick up the end plates from a basket next to him, insert two rivets into each end plate, and cycle the plates through the machine. In a 10-hour shift, Henry Bridgeforth would cycle about 3,400 pieces or plates.

According to the testimony of other workers, the job involved some bending and lifting, depending upon whether the basket from which one took the plates was placed on the floor or on a table. The plates weighed a pound or a pound and a half, and Henry would pick up five, 10 or even 15 plates at a time. Fred Eppel, an Interlake employee who had operated a staker machine, testified that at times one had to lift five or 10 plates and place them on a chute to load the machine.

Charles Bridgeforth, a son of the decedent, also worked at Interlake. He had worked the staker machine, too, and testified that it was strenuous work. Operating it, he said, made eight hours seem like 15 hours. He stated that the repetitious moving while standing in a "kind of half way humped position" placed strain on the chest and shoulders. According to Charles, because of the strain the job produced, only a few workers would operate the staker rather than seeking to trade jobs if another job was available. His father complained about the strain on his arms and chest, Charles said, and he tried to rotate job assignments, but the company wanted him to stay on the staker because he was proficient at it.

Jerry Steinbrecker, Henry Bridgeforth's foreman, testified that the decedent was a machine operator, and that he spent about 85% of his working time operating the staker. He minimized the physical effort in operating a staker. Machine operator, he said, was one of the plant's "lightest duty jobs," and the arm movement involved in operating the staker was about as limited as that involved in handwriting.

Henry Bridgeforth drove to work on October 4, 1976. Frieda, his wife, testified that he left home around 2:30 p.m. He had not worked since July 1976. In July, the plant had gone on strike, and in August he underwent bilateral inguinal hernia surgery. He had spent much of the time he was off work lying around the house, Frieda testified. She also testified that prior to October 4, 1976, the decedent would return from work, tired and weak, and complaining of this condition. Too, she stated that for two years prior to October 4, 1976, he had been taking diutensen for high blood pressure. Charles Bridgeforth testified that he had seen his father about two weeks before he started back to work, and that his father appeared to be in fine health.

The decedent's shift began at 3:30 p.m. The temperature in the factory that day was in the upper 70's or low 80's. Charles said that he saw the decedent at about 3:45, and his father looked "happy as a lark." Charles saw him at 6 o'clock, though, and his father said that he was "running out of gas." At 7 p.m. Charles said that Henry had a yellowish color and was complaining that he felt nauseous and that his chest was tightening up. At 8 p.m., Fred Eppel saw the decedent doubled over with stomach pain. Eppel told the foreman, Jerry Steinbrecker, and Steinbrecker came over. Henry said he felt like vomiting but he was unable to do so.

Steinbrecker testified that at that time Henry had a peculiar grayish color and was perspiring. He was complaining of stomach pain. Steinbrecker soaked some paper towels in cold water, put them on Henry's head and neck, and stayed with Henry until he said he felt better, and until his color was restored. The foreman told him that he could go home and offered to drive him or to have Charles drive him, but Henry decided to drive himself. Steinbrecker walked him to the door at about 8:20 p.m.

Alvin Lindsey, a State trooper, testified that about 9 p.m. he found the decedent's body sitting upright in his automobile about 30 miles from the Interlake plant. The automobile was about 60 yards off the roadway, up against a tree. Tire tracks led straight from the road to the tree with no evidence of braking or maneuvering. The engine was running, the car was in gear, the headlights were on, the radio was playing. Henry's eyes were open, but Lindsey could detect no pulse. He tried CPR without success.

The medical evidence at the hearing consisted of the records of the hospital where the hernia surgery had been performed and the testimony of three physicians. No autopsy had been performed.

Dr. Samuel E. Baz was the decedent's family doctor. He performed the hernia operation in August 1976. During Henry Bridgeforth's convalescence, Dr. Baz found that he had high blood pressure. The elevated pressure, however, was reduced without medication. Dr. Baz stated that in the case of hypertension from which the decedent suffered, the hypertension is not sustained and could be due to generalized arteriosclerosis of the arteries. Arteriosclerosis is the most common cause of hypertension. Dr. Baz did not, however, make any general finding of arteriosclerosis.

An evidence deposition of Dr. Robert F. Bettasso was admitted without objection. Dr. Bettasso, a general practitioner who also performs surgery, testified that he treated cardiac patients. In his opinion, based upon the symptoms and manner of death, the most likely cause of Henry Bridgeforth's death was an acute myocardial infarction. He said that he treats about 20 acute myocardial infarcts per year, and that upset stomach and nausea frequently are symptoms of posterior or posterior lateral infarcts. The doctor presumed that the decedent had coronary artery disease. He stated that he had examined the electrocardiogram made at the time of the decedent's surgery, and that while the EKG was within normal limits, "there [were] some variations from normal there." The doctor also testified, "My opinion would be that unless--that he had coronary artery disease previously."

The witness stated that the decedent's returning to work, returning to the significant physical activity of his duties, "could have been a precipitating factor for the heart attack." The Doctor explained that returning to work "could very definitely [have been] a precipitating factor," because returning to work after a long period of time off would result in much greater strain than that experienced by a person regularly working.

Dr. Bettasso stated that a blood clot in the lung or a stroke were possible but less likely causes of death. Nausea and vomiting are not common symptoms of a stroke.

The deposition of Dr. William Brice Buckingham, an internist, also was admitted. Testifying for Interlake, Dr. Buckingham disagreed with Dr. Bettasso's opinion that an acute myocardial infarction was the most likely cause of death. Instead, Dr. Buckingham gave three other possible causes, none of which could have been caused by the decedent's work.

The most probable, he said, was a serotonin hormone produced by a carcinoid in the appendix. He based that hypothesis upon the fact that 14 years earlier the decedent had undergone surgery for the removal of the right half of the colon for a growth involving the tip of the appendix. This, the doctor said, suggested a carcinoid. According to that hypothesis, "this serotonin producing carcinoid resulted in a pulmonary hypertension, increased pressure on the right side of the heart, ultimately resulting in a failure of the right side of the heart and the patient's death in the automobile prior to the time that the automobile left the road * * *." The doctor stated that about two-thirds to three-fourths of the carcinoids in the appendix are serotonin producing.

Another possible cause, Dr. Buckingham said, was based upon reports in the hospital records of chest X rays showing evidence of fibrosis and some cystic changes of both upper lobes, greater in the right lung than in the left. The possible cause of death was scar carcinoma metastasizing into the central nervous system or adrenal glands or both. The scar carcinoma would be an old tuberculosis lesion that had healed.

A third cause was less likely. That possible cause was "that cystic changes in the right upper lobe on the chest X ray were the result of tuberculosis infection, which was not entirely healed, which had resulted in adrenal glands' atrophy and produced * * * adrenal gland insufficiency."

He did not think the decedent died from a myocardial infarction. He noted that the decedent had a normal electrocardiogram two months before his death, and had no chest pain radiating into the...