Appeal
from Superior Court, Guilford County; Sink, Judge.
Action
by Nell Glenn Scott against the Ætna Life Insurance Company.
Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.
Reversed.
See
also, 205 N.C. 38, 169 S.E. 801.
In
action on life policies, evidence that several days after
insured's tooth was competently extracted without mishap
infection developed, causing swollen neck and necessitating
operation, and that embolus subsequently caused death, held
insufficient to warrant recovery of double indemnity for
death from bodily injuries effected solely through
"external accidental means."--
On or
about April 26, 1921, the defendant delivered to Robert B
Scott two policies of life insurance, Nos. N-282880 and
N-282881, each for the amount of $1,000. The plaintiff is the
beneficiary named in said policies. Riders were on the
policies providing double indemnity and reading as follows
"If the death of the insured occurs before the first
anniversary date of this policy which follows the age of
seventy years, and before a payment under the permanent total
disability provision, if any, has been made or benefit
thereunder allowed, all premiums previously due having been
paid, and such death result directly and independently of all
other causes from bodily injuries effected solely through
external, violent and accidental means within ninety days
from the occurrence of such accident, and if such accident is
evidenced by a visible contusion or wound on the exterior of
the body (except in case of drowning and internal injuries
revealed by an autopsy), and if such death does not result
from suicide, while sane or insane, nor from military or
naval service in time of war, nor from any aeronautic flight
or submarine descent, nor directly or indirectly from disease
in any form, then the Company will pay a sum equal to the sum
herein described as the sum insured in addition
thereto."
On
April 25, 1931, the insured, Robert B. Scott, consulted Dr
Sheffield in Greensboro, N. C., who was a duly and regularly
licensed dentist and was admitted to be an expert. Dr.
Sheffield said at the trial: "I saw him on or about
April 25, 1931, at my office. * * * I extracted a tooth for
him. It was a left lower, third molar, last tooth in the
mouth. It was extracted about two o'clock in the
afternoon. The treatment was as in the usual extraction. The
first procedure was to sterilize the area around the tooth. *
* * Washing off all debris and foreign particles in that
area, followed by an application of tincture of iodine; an
injection was made for an anaesthetic, and the tooth was
extracted. Immediately following the extraction cotton rolls
were placed on either side of the socket until a blood clot
was formed in the socket. The date of the extraction was
Saturday, April 25th. * * * I saw him on Monday following. *
* * At that time I observed first a complete blood clot, no
swelling, very little soreness, and no complaint from
patient. He reported that he had had no trouble so far. I
next saw him on Thursday morning about two o'clock. * * *
He called me * * * and told me he was having trouble, and
asked me to tell him what to do. * * * At that time he was
complaining of a swelling and soreness of the neck, and of
course I gave him the treatment, socket treatment, and asked
him * * * to get in touch with an eye, ear, nose and throat
specialist. * * * I observed swelling about his neck on the
left side of his neck and some soreness. * * * The treatment
I gave in connection with the extraction of the tooth on
April 25 was the treatment that is usually followed by
members of my profession, and was the general and approved
treatment. * * * In consequence of his asking me to pull it
and because of the fact that I thought it ought to be pulled,
then I treated it in the manner that teeth are treated by
dentists who are preparing to pull that kind of a tooth. I
made an X-ray picture of the tooth before I extracted it. I
saw that the roots were straight, and that there would not be
any difficulty in extracting the tooth. * * * It was just a
pure, clean extraction. * * * So far as the extraction is
concerned, it had been successful, and the wound was healing
up successfully, and there was going to be an uneventful
recovery. At the time I saw him on Monday everything was in
good shape. He had had an operation at the Mayo Clinic in
Rochester for an ulcerated stomach. * * * I saw him on
Friday, May 1, at the hospital. At that time the swelling had
increased and it had moved slightly toward the under part of
the jaw. After that about seven or eight o'clock P. M. on
Friday the incision was made. I was present. That was a week
after I had pulled the tooth. * * * The incision was made in
toward the center of the throat in order to drain the
condition. * * * He died the next morning about two
o'clock A. M. He died suddenly. From the information I
had as to the manner of his death, it was my opinion that he
died from an embolus. That is the opinion of all the doctors.
An embolus is due to a blood clot or some foreign body in the
blood that is passing through the heart. It can come from
some tissue sloughing from a recent wound, or come from an
air bubble, or come from a blood clot, or come from anything
that cuts off the arteries. It is entirely possible that
infection could have gone into that socket at some time after
extraction, and this condition would have set up. * * * It is
hard to say definitely whether or not this condition came
from the extraction of that tooth. It all lies in this: Every
tooth that is extracted is infected, every socket is
infected. We have hundreds of organisms in the mouth, so that
a patient recovering from a condition like that, it might be
fatal, resting entirely on the resistance of the patient to
the type of organisms."
Dr
Schoonover testified: "I was called to see him on
Thursday, April 30, 1931. He was unable to speak. I noticed
his jaw and neck enormously swollen on the left side. * * *
In my opinion, an infection caused that condition, the
condition from which he was suffering. The only infection
that would be virulent enough would be what we call
streptococcus germs or organisms. * * * It is indefinite how
long after that germ is contracted or enters the blood stream
before it effects are seen in swelling or otherwise. It can
be twenty-four or forty-eight hours. * * * He was carried to
the hospital the next morning. * * * At that time he had
elevated temperature, his neck was enormously swollen, he
could scarcely turn his head, he was unable to speak,
suffering great pain. * * * The other physician and I finally
decided to operate. The operation was performed, but I did
not get around until about eleven o'clock that night. In
the meantime he had been operated on. * * * The operation
apparently did give relief. * * * Streptococcus infection was
the contributing cause, and there was probably an embolus
that was the immediate cause of death. An embolus is a clot
of anything that gets in the blood stream and circulates in
the blood stream and lodges in the artery of the heart. * * *
A clot quite frequently follows an operation. Quite
frequently following an operation a patient is relieved of
the trouble for which the operation was had and then dies
from a blood clot, as a result of the operation. * * * In
order for the streptococci germ to get into the blood stream,
it has to have an avenue of entrance, a port of entrance, a
raw surface. I did not see at any time I saw Mr. Scott what I
call a port of entrance or raw surface other than the place
where this tooth had been extracted. Probably the embolus
could have come from this operation. * * * In my opinion the
condition from which Mr. Scott was suffering and which
necessitated this operation was an infection * * * and in my
opinion that infection came in consequence of a streptococcus
germ entering the blood stream from some source and from some
place. It usually...