St. Louis Smelting & Ref. Co. v. Indus. Comm'n

• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: CARTWRIGHT
• Citation: St. Louis Smelting & Ref. Co. v. Indus. Comm'n , 298 Ill. 272, 131 N.E. 617 (Ill. 1921)
• Decision Date: 22 June 1921
• Docket Number: No. 13894.,13894.
• Parties: ST. LOUIS SMELTING & REFINING CO. v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al.

298 Ill. 272

131 N.E. 617

ST. LOUIS SMELTING & REFINING CO.

v.INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION et al.

No. 13894.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June 22, 1921.

Error to Circuit Court, Madison County; L. Bernreuter, Judge.

Proceedings under the Workmen's Compensation Act (Laws 1913, p. 335) by Joe Benno for compensation for injuries, opposed by the St. Louis Smelting & Refining Company, employer. Compensation was awarded, and the award confirmed by the circuit court, and the employer brings error.

Reversed and remanded.

William E. Wheeler, of East St. Louis (J. L. Simpson and M. F. Oehmke, both of East St. Louis, of counsel), for plaintiff in error.

Kerr, MacDonald & Murphy, of Chicago, for defendant in error.

CARTWRIGHT, J.

The plaintiff in error, the St. Louis Smelting & Refining Company, operated a lead smelting furnace in Madison county, and Joe Benno began work at the establishment on February 22, 1919, as a feeder, helper, and charge wheeler. On April 9, 1919, while tending a furnace, he was affected by smoke and gas from the furnace, and became dizzy and vomited. He laid down for a time, and then walked home with some assistance from a fellow workman. He had pain in his stomach and in the calf of his right leg, and made application to the Industrial Commission for compensation, alleging that his physical condition resulted from an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, and that the injury to his leg was permanent. At the hearing before the arbitrator the disputed questions were whether there was an accident arising out of and in the course of the employment which produced the condition complained of, and, if so, whether any injury to his leg was permanent.

Benno testified to the facts already stated, which were not disputed, and, further, that when he went home he called for Dr. Harrison, the company doctor, who was not at home, and then called for Dr. Armbruster, who attended and treated him until about the time that he went to St. Louis, on May 31; that Dr. Harrison came to see him seven or eight days after he became sick; that he went to the Barnes Hospital, in St. Louis, on October 2, 1919, and was treated in the hospital, and that his disability had continued and his leg and stomach bothered him all the time. He also offered the testimony of Dr. Eyerman, connected with the dispensary of the Barnes Hospital, who said that he examined Benno on June 9, 1919; that he came to the dispensary of the hospital, and there was a bluish black line at the gum margin, and he gave him the usual treatment for the elimination of lead; that he then had sciatic neuritis, which could come from any local infection and could also come from lead; that he also had carious teeth, and the witness then rendered an opinion that he was suffering from lead poisoning; that he treated Benno until he went to the hospital on October 2, 1919, and there was not much improvementduring the dispensary treatment. On cross-examination the doctor said that he was in the dispensary of the hospital connected with the Washington University, but was not connected with the Barnes Hospital staff; that the improvement of Benno was not as rapid as it should have been, and he might have been suffering from a focal infection, which is pus infection anywhere; that he was suffering from pyorrhea, which was sufficient to cause the condition of the sciatic nerve; that sciatica might be caused by pyorrhea or lead poisoning; that he did not think he had made the statement on direct examination that the sciatica was caused by plumbism, which is the term used by doctors for lead poisoning; that he did not remember making such a statement; that in his opinion the plumbism had a very minor role in the causation of Benno's disability; that lead poisoning might produce the symptoms described by Benno or might not, and the fact that the sciatica did not respond to the treatmentfor plumbism impelled him to doubt that plumbism might be a contributing cause of the sciatica.

On the part of the company, Dr. Armbruster, who had no connection with the company, testified that he was called to treat Benno on April 9, the day of the alleged accident; that he then complained of pain in the right leg, and later erysipelas developed; that erysipelas is a germ disease, which had nothing to do with working around a lead smelter, and the erysipelas had nothing to do with the sciatica; that he examined Benno later and treated him; and that his condition could not have been caused, either wholly or in part, by any lead poisoning or the breathing of gas, nor be attributed to lead.

Dr. Harrison, who had been surgeon for the company for 14 years and owned and conducted a hospital, testified that he had made a special study of plumbism, or lead poisoning, and...