Brown v. State

21 Ill. Ct. Cl. 45, 1951 Ill. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 64
Court of Claims of Illinois·Decided September 7, 1951·No. No. 4385·Published

Opinion

Delaney, J.

Claimant, Henry I. Brown, seeks to recover for, complete and permanent disability under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, as the result of an accident that arose out of and in- the course of his employment as an employee of respondent.

Mr. Henry I. Brown was married, and 40 years of age on February 15, 1950, the date on which the injury complained of arose. He informed the Division that he had four children under 18 - years of age dependent upon him for support. He resides in the City of Newton, Jasper County, Illinois.

He was first employed by the Division of Highways on February 14, 1949 as a maintenance labor foreman at a salary of $223.00 a month. He worked continuously in this same classification from the date of his employment until the date of his injury. His salary was increased to $246.00 a month on July 1, 1949, and he earned a total of $2,849.33 in the year preceding his injury.

On February 15, 1950, Mr. Brown was in charge of a group of men engaged in placing sandbags on a levee to protect it from flood waters of the Wabash River. The work was being done approximately one mile south of Russellville in Lawrence County. At about 2:00 P.M. a tractor, which was being used to haul filled sandbags to the levee, bogged down in soft ground near the levee. The tractor was stalled in a low place,, which would be covered with water if the weakened levee, which was nearby, should give away. Mr. Brown and his men gathered around the tractor, and pushed it out of the mud. While pushing on the tractor, Mr. Brown felt a burning pain in his left chest, which radiated down his left arm. Although he felt poorly, he continued working until approximately 5:00 P.M., and then went to a hotel in Palestine, Lawrence County, for the night. He had a light dinner, and went to bed early. At approximately 10:00 P.M. he was awakened by the return of the pain in his left chest. This pain, which was severe enough to cause him to break out in a sweat, lasted approximately 30 minutes and then subsided.

At approximately 5:45 A.M. on February 16, while Mr. Brown was dressing to begin his day of work, the pain returned again, and was so severe that Dr. L. R. Illyes was called to the hotel. Dr. Illyes made a diagnosis of an acute heart attack, and administered medication to relieve the acute symptoms. Later that morning, Mr. Brown became comfortable enough to be moved to the Olney Sanitarium, Olney, Illinois, where he was placed in the hands of Dr. Charles W. Harrison for treatment.

On March 3, 1950, Dr. Illyes submitted the following report:

“Heart attack — probably brought on by the heavy lifting and exertion he did the previous day. Treatment — kept patient quiet and gave him medicine to relieve the pain. Estimated date patient able to work — Indefinite. Date patient was discharged — 2-16-50.”

Dr. Harrison submitted a report on April 11, 1950, which is quoted below:

“Patient suffered from an anterior myocardial infarction, which came on sometime after exertion. Treatment — Sedation. Bed rest. Vaso-dilators. X-Rays— No Remarks — Electrocardiograms diagnostic of anterior myocardial infarction. Estimated date patient able to work — Light work about July 1, 1950. What permanent disability do you expect? — Unable to state at present time what the cardiac status will be.”

On July 8, 1950, Dr. Harrison reported again, as follows:

"Mr. Brown was last seen by me on June 6, 1950, and an EKG was taken at that time. The results were quite satisfactory, with progress expected following a myocardial infarction.
I anticipate that Mr. Brown will be able to return to light work sometime within the next month to six weeks.”

Dr. Harrison again reported on July 15, 1950, as follows:

“Mr. Brown was in yesterday, and another electrocardiogram was run. The results of this continue to show improvement, with this last tracing being practically normal. He still does have some tiredness on exertion, which is to be expected, and some pains in the chest, which I attribute to muscle, rather than the heart.
I am releasing him for light work as of August 1st, and would appreciate it if he would be allowed to work only to the point of fatigue, rather than past it, for a week to ten days. This is a trial period for him, and if he handles the first week or so as far as his mental outlook is concerned he would be in a much better position to carry on a normal life thereafter. I believe we have no worries about his heart, other than what might come whether he worked or not. If you have any questions, I shall be glad to answer them for you.”

On July 27, 1950, Dr. Harrison sent the Division the following report:

“Mr. Brown was in my office the other day with a rather severe common cold. I talked to his wife today, and she said he was still running some fever and not feeling up to par. If it isn’t asking too much, I would like to postpone his return to work until the middle of August.
Thank you kindly.”

Dr. Harrison called the Effingham office of the Division of Highways on August 9, 1950 to ask authorization to send Mr. Brown to St. Louis for an examination by Dr. Edward Massie, a specialist in heart diseases :

Dr. Massie submitted the following report on August 17, 1950:

“This letter concerns your patient Mr. Henry Brown. He gives a history of having had a coronary thrombosis. The story is typical. The electrocardiograms which you sent along are also typical of an anterior myocardial infarction. Six months have now passed, and he still has pain. The pain, however, is more in the left upper shoulder, and it seems to sometimes occur down the arm, and he has some numbness of two fingers of the left hand. Moving of his shoulder and arm seem to make the left upper shoulder discomfort worse. It has a duration of some hours, and it does not occur on exertion, and may occur at any time. If he lies down and rests his arm quietly, it seems to go away. In questioning about precardial discomfort on exertion there is now no history suggestive of coronary artery pain. He has become a little anxious about himself, and, although he was not nervous before, he feels more tense, and at times he feels quivering in the left chest.
Examination revealed a well developed man who was slightly overweight with normally reacting pupils, normal optic fundi, negative throat, normal thyroid, no definite cardiac enlargement, fairly good heart sounds, regular rhythm, no significant murmurs, pulse rate 84 per minute, blood pressure 140/100, clear lungs, negative abdomen and no dependent edema.
I took an electrocardiogram with twelve leads as you had done, and find that there is now a good looking tracing, which is just about normal. This resembles your last tracing. Certainly there is tremendous improvement over the initial tracing when he had his acute attack. I fluoroscoped him, and found his lungs to be clear, and the heart size and shape not to be unusual, although the heart size might be at the upper limits of normal.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Brown v. State, 21 Ill. Ct. Cl. 45, 1951 Ill. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 64 (Ill. Super. Ct. 1951).

21 Ill. Ct. Cl. 45 (Brown v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.