George
C. Beckmann, on April 24, 1940, filed with the Industrial
Board a claim for compensation against his employer, Quality
Motors, Incorporated, in which he stated that he "was
injured on January 17, 1940, while moving an oil drum, having
felt something slip in his groin which developed to be a
hernia," and that "he has been examined and treated
by Dr. R. E. Oliver *** who advises an immediate operation
and wearing of a truss." This claim was heard before
Honorable Harry E. Monroe, a member of the Industrial Board
on July 10, 1940. The employer admitted that on January 17
1940, the claimant was employed by it as service manager at
$37.50 a week. The employer and insurance carrier denied that
the claimant had sustained an accidental injury causing a
hernia while engaged in the performance of the duties of his
employment. Dr. Robert E. Oliver, a practicing physician
testified in part for the claimant as follows:
"I
examined Mr. Beckmann about January 17, this year. After that
I examined him about the 31st. He now has a hernia. There is
an apparent protrusion at this time. I have
prescribed an operation for him. At the time I first examined
him there was no bulging, there was tenderness over the
external inguinal ring. His condition was such at that time
that after an examination thought there was no hernia
present. That there was only a strain of the ligaments and
muscles in the inguinal region.
"Q.
If there were a slight tear in the abdominal wall which would
only admit a small protrusion, would that only be discernable
by incision at that point or could that be told by feeling?
A. Of course there is a limit to the size of the protrusion
that you could probably feel with the finger. There might
have been such an injury that rent any tissues that you
couldn't feel. The only way you could find out would be
by incision. I have known Mr. Beckmann some time and have
never known him to have a hernia before this. From my
experience as a physician I know it is a definite fact that
hernias start from some initiative cause and that they
progress in size as time goes on with additional work, the
bulging becomes more and more pronounced. The examination
that I made was at Mr. Beckmann's request."
The
claimant testified in part as follows: "on or about
January 17 of this year I had an injury at the place of
business. I was heading up a barrel of oil and just as I
started to lift it up I felt a pain in my side, down in the
region of my groin. I had to let it back down. I couldn't
keep on working. My job is not a laborer's job. I was
able to continue work. My position is supervisor, not
laborious work. As soon as I felt that pain I didn't move
for a second or two. *** I did not slip or fall or have an
accident of any kind. It was just an ordinary strain."
B. L
Duke testified in behalf of the claimant in part as follows
"I am employed by Quality Motors and I was in Mr
Beckmann's department about January 1. I remember what
happened that day when Mr. Beckmann was lifting a drum of
oil. We buy oil in bulk, barrels contain 55 gallons. It
weighs about 300 pounds. It requires two men to lift the
barrels and Mr. Beckmann and I were heading up one when he
seemed to be in pain and later on during the day he remarked
to me that he thought he had ruptured himself lifting the
barrel. The only thing I noticed happened at the time we were
lifting it he seemed to be in pain and was holding his side.
He let go of the barrel."
The
claimant further testified as follows: "The next day Dr.
Oliver came. He is a customer. While he was
there I told him I had a pain in my side and went in the wash
room and he told me to take my clothes down and he examined
me. I still have pain there. It goes and comes. It kept on
hurting a
little worse and worse and the next time the doctor came in
the latter part of the month I asked him to examine it again:
It was around January 31. There was a swelling at that time,
he punched up there and I hollered. I had never had a rupture
before. I have not lost any salary. My claim is entirely for
surgical fee for an operation which I am willing to
undergo."
"Q. You did not feel any pain at that time? A. It must
have hurt or I wouldn't have asked the doctor to look at
it. I had pain enough to let the barrel down and I called Mr.
Dukes.
"Q.
It was a couple of days later before you felt pain? A. No, it
was the next day when the doctor came in.
"Q.
Was it the next day when you felt pain? A. No, that is when
the doctor examined it.
"Q.
Did you feel any pain at that time, you said you didn't,
didn't you? A. I don't know. *** It must have pained
me or I couldn't (wouldn't) have called the doctor.
My guts didn't fall right down on the floor.
"Q.
You signed a statement 'I did not feel any pain and did
not do anything about it until a couple of days later when
for the first time I began to feel pain.' A. It was the
next day when it gave me a lot of trouble. At the time this
happened I must have felt pain. I dropped the barrel. As to
which is correct, I must have had a pain or I wouldn't
have dropped the drum. I did not report it at that time to
any one connected with the Quality Motors. The first report I
made was on January 31 when I handed the report to Mr.
Ferguson. I didn't send for Dr. Oliver he just happened
in. I know he comes in about every two weeks to have his car
fixed."
The
claimant testified on redirect examination in part as
follows: "I am foreman of the service department and all
notices like that are submitted to me. On the date of the
accident I had enough discomfort to drop the barrel. I still
work for the Quality Motors and have lost no time."
The
employer and insurance carrier introduced in evidence the
signed statement of the claimant as follows:
"I
am employed as Service Manager of the Quality Motors at a
salary of $37.50 a week. On the 17th day of January, 1940, at
about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, I was
moving an oil drum and felt something slip in my groin. I did
not feel any pain and did not do anything about it until a
couple of days later when, for the first time, I began to
feel a pain. Dr. Robert L. Oliver happened to come in the
place and I asked him to examine me. He examined me at that
time and said that there appeared to be a slight strain. He
did not prescribe any treatment, except to stay off my feet
as much as I could. It kept hurting me, and about two weeks
later he examined me again and told me that I was ruptured.
At the time that I moved the drum I did not slip or fall. It
was just the strain. I did not think anything of it at the
time as it seemed to be just a slight strain and did not make
any report of it until the 31st day of January when I made up
the report. This was the day of, or the day after the second
examination by Dr. Oliver. The same day that I made up the
report I gave it to Mr. Ferguson. When Dr. Oliver first
examined me, he felt the injured place and had me cough. He
said that I only appeared to have a slight strain, but said
nothing about my being ruptured. Some of the men, who have
been injured at the plant, have been sent to Dr. Oliver. I
have never been ruptured, nor examined for a rupture nor worn
a truss before this time. I have had no general physical
examination that I can remember by any doctor for probably 15
years. The reason that I made no report of this occurrence
until after the second examination, was because I did not
think that I had been hurt, and thought nothing of it until
Dr. Oliver told me that I had a rupture."
The
claimant, recalled, testified as follows: "I did not
write this statement. They wrote it out and I signed it. I
first made a statement of the entire matter before witnesses,
then this was dictated in my presence. After it was finished
I was asked if it was correct, then a copy of it was sent to
me at my place of business. I read it over carefully and made
a correction of it then and eventually signed it, and sent it
back. I have never had any pain before. I am such a man that
I did not have any experience with hernias. I didn't know
there had to be pain immediately following the accident.
Being such a man I could take it although I suffered
discomfort I didn't call it pain at that time. I feel the
same way now as I felt then. I have a numbness like your foot
goes to sleep. That is the way I felt the time I lifted it as
far as I can remember. As far as I can remember I felt
pain."
Dr. Oliver, recalled, testified: "At the
time I examined Mr. Beckmann on January 18 I probed around
the region of the groin. It was very tender. He told me at
that time that he had pain in his side and that is the reason
I examined him to determine what the pain was coming from.
That was the day after the accident."
The employer and insurance carrier read into the record the
following statement of the general manager of the employer,
Dale Critz: "A few days after January 31, 1940, a report
was given me of an injury sustained by George Beckmann, who
is employed by the Quality Motors, Incorporated, as service
manager. I had no notice whatsoever of any injury to him
prior to that time nor as far as I have been able to find by
complete investigation, did he report the matter to any one
prior to that date when he handed Mr. Ferguson the first
report of injury. I did not provide medical treatment for him
nor advise him to...