Booth & Flinn, Ltd. v. Cook

1920 OK 320, 193 P. 36, 79 Okla. 280, 1920 Okla. LEXIS 99
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 12, 1920
Docket11140
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 1920 OK 320 (Booth & Flinn, Ltd. v. Cook) 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
Booth & Flinn, Ltd. v. Cook, 1920 OK 320, 193 P. 36, 79 Okla. 280, 1920 Okla. LEXIS 99 (Okla. 1920).

Opinion

RAINEY, C. J.

On September 28, 1918, one W. F. Cook, while in the employ of Booth & Flynn, Ltd., had his leg broken, for which the Industrial Commission, on December 30. 1918, allowed him compensation at the rate of $10 per week until recovery. Thereafter, Booth & Flinn, Ltd., filed an application before the commission to discontinue the payments granted by the award, and the claimant, in an amended answer, alleged that since the making of said award it had become necessary to amputate his leg, and asked that a new award be made giving him the compensation provided by the Workmen’s Compensation Act for the loss of a leg. The commission granted a hearing in the matter, which was had in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, on June 20, 1919, and in Oklahoma City, on August 20, 1919, as a result of which it was found that the claimant had suffered the loss of his' leg by reason of his injuries and was entitled to compensation fixed by the act for the loss thereof, and *281 entered an order vacating the award made on December 30, 1918, and allowing claimant compensation at the rate of $10 per week for 175 weeks from October 12, 1918, less any sums paid under the first award. From this order Booth & Flinn, Ltd., as petitioners, have appealed to this court.

The commission, in its written opinion by Commissioner Taylor, filed December 5, 1919, made the following findings of fact:

“The facts, as proved in this case, are that the claimant, Cook, suffered a fracture of his leg while in the employ of the respondent, Booth & Flinn; that on the 28th day of September, 1918, the date of injury, the claimant was taken by the respondent to a hospital at Bartlesville, Okla., where the fractured leg was set; that he remained at said hospital until the evening of November 17, 1918; that thereupon he went to his home at Coffeyville, Kansas; that his injury was treated by a physician at Coffeyville, who found that the man’s leg was in a bad condition ; that on the 29th. day of January, 1919, claimant was taken to Coffeyville hospital, and on February 13th underwent a surgical operation for the purpose' of correcting a vicious union of the broken fragments of the leg; that the condition of his left leg was about four inches short and his toes turned toward the ánklte of the right foot; that the lower fragment of the fracture was drawn up about four inches above the lower end of the upper fragment; that the upper end of the lower fracture was firmly united to the side of the upper fragment about four inches above the end of the break of said fracture,' and also that there was a bony union between the sides of the two fragments; that to correct this vicious union, the usual operation was done and there was applied what physicians call a Lane Plate; that after said operation no union between the fragments took place and in consequence it became necessary to amputate the leg, which was done on June 2, 1919.”

It is the contention of the petitioners that the claimant’s leg was properly set by their physician at the Bartlesville hospial, and that if the claimant had remained there it would not have been necessary to have amputated his leg. Petitioners further contend that the claimant left without their knowledge or consent, but that, on the contrary, Dr. D. O. Crawford advised against his leaving the hospital and requested him to remain at least a week longer in order to get used to his crutches with the aid of his nurse. Dr. Crawford also testified that he himself removed the splints and found that there was a union of the fractured parts be-' fore the claimant left the hospital. Petitioners say that claimant’s leg was re-broken, resulting in the amputation, for which they ar.e not responsible. The plaintiff's evidence shows that he was taken home from the Bartlesville hospital on a stretcher and that his leg was not re-broken nor injured in any way from the time he left the Bartlesville hospital, and! that at the time he left said hospital the broken leg was shorter than the other Ifeg and the toes were turned over toward the-ankle of the other leg. In this he was corroborated by other witnesses, including-physicians at the Coffeyville hospital, who testified that his left leg was about four ■ inches shorter than his right, with his toes; turned toward his ankle; that the upper end' of the fractured femur was drawn out and1 the lower femur was drawn up, thereby causing the shortening of the leg. These-physicians also testified that their examination of the fractured leg disclosed it had' not been rebroken since it was first set.

The commission, in its opinion, held that if the claimant’s leg was properly set at the Bartlesville hospital by the petitioners’' physician and he left the hospital prematurely without the consent of said physician- or authorities in charge, and such action aggravated the injury and resulted in the re-breaking of his leg, he would not be entitled' to recover the compensation fixed by the law for the loss of a leg; but that if the claimant’s leg was improperly set by petitioners’' physicians and a vicious union resulted therefrom, the loss of the leg would be upon-the petitioners.

We agree with this view. It is true that an injured workman cannot recover compensation for an increase of disability where he himself caused the aggravation. See Pacific Coast Casualty Co. v. Pillsbury-Industrial Accident Comm. (Cal.) 153 Pac. 24, and cases cited therein. This is on the theory that the increase of disability was a subsequent injury occasioned by the negligence of the injured person himself, and therefore the employer is not liable. But this doctrine has no application to this case, for after a full hearing, as above stated, the commission found that the amputation of claimant’s leg resulted from his injury aggravated by improper treatment by petitioners’ physicians, and that his leaving the hospital prematurely did not • affect h'is condition. This was a question of fact determinable by the commission under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, and its finding is conclusive. Section 10, chap. 246, Session Laws-1915; Raulerson v. State Industrial Commission et al., 76 Okla. 8, 183 Pac. 880; Board of *282 Com’rs of Cleveland Co. v. Barr et al., 68 Oklahoma, 173 Pac. 206.

We are aware that in negligence cases not arising under compensation acts many courts hold that the master’s liability ceases when he exercises reasonable care in selecting competent physicians or surgeons. But workmen’s , compensation acts are a depart ture from cases of liability resulting from negligence and fix specific amounts of recovery for specific results of accidents. To deny recovery for the ultimate result of the accident where the disability has been increased by the intervening negligence or carelessness of the employer’s selected physician would be to defeat one of the purposes of the act. Under- workmen’s compensation acts an employer is liable for all legitimate consequences following an accident, including un-skillfulness or error of judgment of a physician furnished the injured employe as required by section 4 of our -Compensation Act. See Sams v. Komas & Dorros, 2 Cal. Ind. Acc. Com. 203; Schofield v. Contractors’ Mutual Liability Ins. Co., 1 Mass. Ind. Acc. Bd. 95; Johnson v. Pacific Surety Co., 1 Cal. Ind. Acc. Com. (part 2) 560; Stockwell v. E. M. Waymire, 1 Cal. Ind. Acc. Com. (part 2) 225; Shirt v. Calico Printers’ Association (Eng.) 78 L. J. K. B. 528 (1909), 2 K. B. 51, 100 L. T. 740, 25 T. L. R. 451, 53 Sol. Jo. 430, 2 B. 342, c.

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Bluebook (online)
1920 OK 320, 193 P. 36, 79 Okla. 280, 1920 Okla. LEXIS 99, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/booth-flinn-ltd-v-cook-okla-1920.