Black Gold Petroleum Co. v. Hirshfield

1938 OK 49, 79 P.2d 566, 182 Okla. 634, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 662
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 25, 1938
DocketNo. 27877.
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 1938 OK 49 (Black Gold Petroleum Co. v. Hirshfield) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Black Gold Petroleum Co. v. Hirshfield, 1938 OK 49, 79 P.2d 566, 182 Okla. 634, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 662 (Okla. 1938).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

This is an original proceeding in this court brought by Black Gold Petroleum Company and its insurance carrier, Lloyds America, as petitioners, to obtain a review of an order and award made by the State Industrial Commission in favor of the respondents, Drs. A. C. Hirsh-field, E. B. Erwin, Wesley Hospital, a co-partnership, and the heirs of E. E. James, deceased. Except where a more explicit designation is required, the parties will hereafter be referred to as petitioners and respondents.

The relevant facts, as disclosed by the record, will be briefly stated. On September 4. 1936, F. B. James was in the employ of the petitioner, Black Gold Petroleum Company, in a business defined as hazardous by the Workmen’s Compensation Law of this state, and while so employed and engaged sustained an accidental personal injury. The petitioners sent the injured employee to their doctor for examination and treatment. The injury appeared to be slight and of a minor nature, and after treatment for a period of ten days the employee was discharged by the petitioner’s doctor as being-well and fit for work. Employee then settled with the petitioners for the temporary total disability which had resulted from his injury, and this settlement was approved by the State Industrial Commission on September 18, 1986. The employee returned to work on September 16, 1986, but worked for only three days and then went to his home near Meeker, Okla., where he remained until October 14, 1936, at which time he became alarmingly ill and upon the advice of a local physician returned to Oklahoma City for further examination and treatment. The employee did not request the petitioners to furnish him further medical attention, but consulted Drs. A. C. Hirshfield and E. B. Erwin, who advised him to go at once to a hospital for a thorough examination and such treatment as should be required. In accordance with the advice so given the employee entered Wesley Hospital and was operated dpon by the above-named physicians and found to be suffering from general peritonitis as a result of a ruptured appendix.

■ On November 12, 1936, a supplemental amended employee’s first notice of injury and claim for compensation and a motion to vacate the prior order of the commission approving the settlement theretofore had and to reopen the cause on the ground of changa in condition was filed with the State Industrial Commission. On November 25, 1936, the employee, E. E. James, died as a result of the peritonitis from which he was suffering when he entered the hospital. The petitioners declined to pay the bills of the doctors, nurses, and the hospital. Thereupon, on December 16, 1936, and January 15, 1937, respondent Wesley Hospital, a copartnership, filed with the commission claims for nurse and 'hospital services rendered to the said E. E. James between October 14, 1936, and November 25, 1936. Thereafter, on February 4, and 16, 1937, Drs. A. C. Hirshfield and E. B. Erwin filed with the commission their claims for professional services rendered to the said E. E. James between October 14, and November 25, 1936; the petitioner denied liability on each and all of said claims for the assigned reason that the State Industrial Commission was without jurisdiction of the parties and the subject-matter. The plea to the jurisdiction of the commission was overruled and denied. The commission thereupon, after hearing the *636 evidence offered by the parties, on March SO, 1037, entered an order and award which we are now called upon to review. The pertinent findings therein made by the commission are as follows:

“1. That on September the 4th, 19S6, F. E. James, deceased, was in the employ of the respondent herein, and engaged in a hazardous occupation, subject to and covered by the terms and provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Law, and that on said date he sustained an accidental personal injury arising out of and in the course of his employment, consisting of injuries to his back, side and internal injuries. * * *
“3. That following said accidental injuries, claimant notified the respondent, his employer, and said respondent and insurance carrier herein, provided medical care and attention and paid voluntary payments of compensation to September 15, 1936, in the sum of $12.82, as shown by Form 7, filed September 16, 1936. That claimant was dismissed by respondent and insurance carrier’s doctor and told that he was able to return, to work, and on or about September 16, 1936, he reported to his employer for work and endeavored to work for a period of approximately three days, at which time he sustained a change in his condition for the worse and was forced to discontinue his attempt to work and returned to his home near Meeker, Okla., and that since said date and by reason of his change in condition, claimant was temporarily and totally disabled as a direct result of said accidental injury, until the date of his death.
“4. That the said F. E. James became acutely ill with peritonitis as a direct result of said accidental injuries, and it thus became necessary that the said F. E. James have emergency medical care, hospitalization and a major surgical operation; that he was taken to the Wesley Hospital at Oklahoma City and Dr. A. O. Hirshfield and Dr. F. B. Erwin performed the major operation and attended claimant thereafter, and have rendered their bill in the total sum of $300, or the sum of $150 each, which the commission finds is fair and reasonable and limited to the charges for like services in the same community; that the Wesley Hospital has rendered its bill in the sum of $502.45 which did not include the sum of $238, incurred for special nurses, and the commission finds that said sums are fair and reasonable and limited to the charge in this community for hospitalization, medication, operating room, board, anesthetic, etc., and for nurses’ care, and that the respondent and insurance carrier are liable therefor.
“5. The commission further finds that claimant filed a supplemental amended claim on November 12, 1936, and also on said date claimant through his attorneys filed. a motion to set aside order approving Form 7, and to reopen cause on change of condition, and on November 3, 1936, wrote respondent a letter requesting further medical treatment, all of which respondent and insurance carrier have ignored, and after knowledge thereof respondent and insurance carrier failed to provide said necessary medical, surgical and other attendance or treatment, including nurse and hospital service or medication; and the commission further finds that the emergency treatment furnished prior to the notice and demand was made necessary by reason of the emergency condition of claimant and was not provided by the employer or insurance carrier; that all said bills have been presented to respondent and insurance carrier for payment as provided by statute and payment thereon refused by said respondent and insurance carrier, and thereafter properly placed and filed with the commission and hearings thereon were had as set forth in this award.”

Upon the findings thus made the commission awarded the heirs of F. E. James, deceased, the sum of $161.59 on account of temporary total disability of deceased from the date of injury to his death less the five-day waiting period, the sum previously paid and the three days during which deceased had worked, and awarded to Doctors Hirsh-field and Erwin the sum of $300 for their services and to Wesley Hospital, a copartnership, the sum of $785.45, for hospital and nurse service rendered to the deceased.

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Bluebook (online)
1938 OK 49, 79 P.2d 566, 182 Okla. 634, 1938 Okla. LEXIS 662, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/black-gold-petroleum-co-v-hirshfield-okla-1938.