Gonzales v. Johnston Foil Manufacturing Company

305 S.W.2d 45, 1957 Mo. App. LEXIS 589
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 3, 1957
Docket29644
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 305 S.W.2d 45 (Gonzales v. Johnston Foil Manufacturing Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gonzales v. Johnston Foil Manufacturing Company, 305 S.W.2d 45, 1957 Mo. App. LEXIS 589 (Mo. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

RUDDY, Presiding Judge.

This is an appeal by an employee in a proceeding under the Workmen’s Compensation Law from a judgment of the Circuit Court affirming an award of the Industrial Commission in favor of the em *47 ployee. The Industrial Commission found that the employee sustained an accident arising out of and in the course of her employment resulting in ten percent permanent partial disability to the whole body of the employee.

The first point relied on by the employee is that the award is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence since the uncontradicted evidence is that the employee was disabled from all work for sixty-two weeks at the time of the hearing. It is the contention of the employee that there should have been an allowance for temporary total disability and not one for permanent partial disability. If there was sufficient, competent evidence to support the award and it was not contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence, the employee’s contention must be ruled against her and the award must be sustained. Wood v. Wagner Electric Corporation, 355 Mo. 670, 197 S.W.2d 647; Williams v. International Shoe Co., Mo. App., 213 S.W.2d 657.

The employee, Bernice A. Gonzales, was 30 years of age at the time of her injury. In the course of her employment with the Johnston Foil Manufacturing Company she had been sitting on a stool that had coats •draped over the back of said stool. When the employee momentarily rose from the stool it fell over, because of the weight •of the coats. The employee immediately sat down and, the chair having fallen, the •employee fell backward in a sitting position striking her buttocks and back across .a wood rung and her head on a concrete floor. This accident occurred on the first •day of November 1951. A few minutes after the accident she had a terrific headache but had no other pains, and she testified she was just shaken up and felt sick.

She was taken to Dr. Reuben Smith by her employer. She testified he gave her •some pills to take and told her to go home .and rest. She remained at home for a little more than one week and then returned to Dr. Smith. She continued with him for five or six weeks. During that time he taped her back and applied heat to her back and neck. She said her back started to hurt her a few days after she fell and that she never had any pain or difficulty with her back before the accident.

She further testified that Dr. Smith told her that "he didn’t know what on earth was wrong” with her and when she asked him if she should see a medical specialist, he told her she didn’t need any. He told her to try to go back to work. She did so and had to quit after working about three and one half hours. She testified that she has never worked at the plant since that attempt and hasn’t been able to work since that time. About a month after the accident her legs started to bother her.

Later she sought medical assistance on her own account and visited Dr. Robert O’Brien. He prescribed a back brace which she secured and wore for several months. She saw him twice and had to discontinue his services because of inability to pay his bill when he told her it would be some time before her back would be well. Later she was referred by the employer and insurer to Dr. Leonard T. Fur-low, Dr. A. H. Diehr and Dr. Henry G. Schwartz. Her attorneys sent her to Dr. Samson Wennerman, Dr. Joseph J. Gitt and Dr. Robert Mueller.

In connection with her household duties she testified that once in a while she mops the kitchen and washes the dishes and cooks a few meals. In addition she uses the automatic washer to wash clothes, but has been unable to do anything else. She said it hurts to bend her body and to move her head. At the time of the hearing she said she still suffers from headaches and continues to have pain in her neck and lower back. She said her legs hurt all the time, except when she stays off of her feet.

She saw Dr. A. H. Diehr on April 10, 1952, and again on September 26, 1952. *48 He suggested a myelogram be taken to ascertain if she had a vertebral disc injury. She said she agreed to submit to this test and also agreed to submit to this test on subsequent occasions. She presented herself to Dr. Henry G. Schwartz for the myelogram, but he didn’t make the test. At the hearing she said she was still willing to submit to the test. Dr. Samson Wennerman, whom she visited on the suggestion of her counsel, also suggested a myelogram test. She said she didn’t have it performed because of lack of funds.

She visited Dr. Leonard T. Furlow once and saw Dr. Henry G. Schwartz on one occasion. She was examined by Dr. Henry G. Schwartz at Barnes Hospital. She testified that during his examination he did not remove her dress or the brace she was wearing at the time and that he examined her while she was sitting on an ordinary chair.

She was examined on one occasion by Dr. Robert Mueller and on another occasion by Dr. Joseph J. Gitt. She visited Dr. Samson Wennerman for the first time on June 25, 1952, and has been treated by him since that time. She has made more than twenty visits to his office. He prescribed a brace or corset for her, which she is still wearing, and applied heat therapy. The brace he prescribed cost $16 and the one purchased on the advice of Dr. Robert O’Brien cost $15.

Dr. Joseph J. Gitt, a medical specialist in nervous and mental diseases, called as a witness by the employee, testified that he examined her at his office on November 24, 1952. On that examination she held her body slightly flexed to the left. There was tenderness to percussion over the fifth lumbar vertebra with radiation of pain down the left lower leg. Upon extension of the left lower leg she had some pain radiating along the sciatic nerve due to irritation of that nerve. The right ankle jerk was slightly less active than the left. He further testified that she walked with a limp. It was his conclusion, after the examination, that the employee should be hospitalized for further study and should have a myelogram or diskogram made. He further testified that “the herniated disc she had was due to trauma” and was the result of the accident. It was his opinion that at the time he saw her “she couldn’t carry out a full day’s work.” He further testified that inasmuch as there had been no lessening of her distress since the injury occurred, he did not think she would get any better without surgical intervention. He explained that the myelogram he suggested was a diagnostic procedure and is made in order to find out what is wrong with the patient. However, he testified he was satisfied that his clinical diagnosis was correct, but that a myelogram would provide additional information that would be helpful. He said the herniated disc was at the level of the fifth lumbar vertebra.

Dr. Samson Wennerman, called as a witness by the employee, testified that he saw her for the first time on June 25, 1952, and has seen her about twenty times since then. In his examination of her he found that straight leg raising caused pain in the back and down the legs. He described this as the Lasegue sign. He said she arose from the examination table slowly and apparently in pain. There was an exaggeration of the lumbar lordosis. He found tenderness at the base of the skull and in the lower part of the neck. The knee jerks were present, but he elicited no left ankle jerk.

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Bluebook (online)
305 S.W.2d 45, 1957 Mo. App. LEXIS 589, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gonzales-v-johnston-foil-manufacturing-company-moctapp-1957.