Gotchy v. North Dakota Workmen's Compensation Bureau

194 N.W. 663, 49 N.D. 915, 1923 N.D. LEXIS 42
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJune 7, 1923
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 194 N.W. 663 (Gotchy v. North Dakota Workmen's Compensation Bureau) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gotchy v. North Dakota Workmen's Compensation Bureau, 194 N.W. 663, 49 N.D. 915, 1923 N.D. LEXIS 42 (N.D. 1923).

Opinion

LkoNsoN, Ch. J.

This is a proceeding under the Workmen’s Compensation Act by a claimant against the bureau. The bureau has appealed from a judgment of the district court in claimant’s favor.

The facts are: The claimant is the widow of Frank Gotchy, deceased. There are four dependent children aged, respectively, six, eight, twelve, and fifteen years. For many years the deceased was a carpenter. He resided with his family on a farm about two miles distant from Boeder, North Dakota. The Boeder Co-operative Equity Exchange, a corporation, has maintained at Beeder for many years an elevator. There it is engaged in the general business of handling grain, flour, feed, and coal. For several years the deceased had worked for this exchange as a carpenter whenever his services were required, in doing repair work or in construction. About August, 1919, the exchange desired and determined to install a new leg in its elevator for purposes of facilitating-the handling of grain. The deceased was employed by the exchange as a carpenter to do the work of construction. In August and September, 1919, he was thus employed. In doing this work he received some assistance from the secretary of the exchange and the son of the secretary. In making this construction it was necessary for work to be done underneath the elevator at the bottom of a bin. Access was secured through a hole in the floor and down a ladder. Proximate to the place there was an iron pulley about 2J4 feet in diameter which was used in the operation of the elevator. No witnesses specifically saw any injury happen to the deceased; but, on September 4th, 1919, as he came up from this hole, he made the statement to the manager of the elevator, while rubbing his head like one who had bumped his head and while he appeared at that time to be in pain, that he had nearly “broke” liis head; that his head was hit against this big pulley. When he returned from work that day he complained to his wife that he had been hurt and was struck on the head by a timber or pulley at the elevator. He complained of terrible paiiis in the back part of his head and of dizziness. Ilis head [922]*922was tilted slightly forward. lie acted like a sick man. Iiis wife called the doctor over the telephone and applied home remedies. The next morning the deceased got up at 5 :00 a. m. complained of headache and of being dizzy. Often he would hold his head with his hand. He returned to his work but came back that morning. lie showed a lack of appetite and acted in an unnatural way, sitting down and holding his head in his hands. During the morning of September 15th, he met the secretary of the exchange in the driveway and complained to him that he nearly knocked off his head yesterday; that, as he was coming up from the first floor, he struck his head on the pulley. The wife testified that, up to that time, he had never been sick a day since she had known him and always had been in the best of health. On the second day he went back to the elevator and tried to do some work for a time. Then, during that day, he went to a local doctor in company with his wife. He was examined. He was given a prescription. Thence the doctor visited him at various times. He continued to suffer from severe headaches. Opiates were given to relieve the pain. The symptoms indicated irritation in the brain tissue or a lesion in the brain. Various tests were made. The patient became more or less comatose and physically wasted away. Finally he was taken to a hospital in Minneapolis for an operation. He was there about three weeks. There, in November, 19.19, an operation was performed upon his skull. A piece of bone was removed. This relieved the pressure on the brain. Little relief resulted. The patient returned on November 29th, 1919. Gradually he became weaker; the coma became more pronounced. Finally, he died on February 10th, 1920. The local doctor removed his brain and sent the samo to a pathologist and bacteriologist, a doctor at the University of North Dakota. This doctor made an examination. His testimony is to tho following effect: In the back part of the cerebrum, on the right side, about the middle of the brain in the lateral ventricle there was a tumor, designated as glioma. The large blood vessel ascending had passed this growth and in that portion of its course an old blood clot was found. The cause of the clot was rupture of a blood vessel. The cause of the hemorrhage was a weakened wall of a blood vessel together with some external violence which would raise the pressure and thus cause the weakened wall to break. The secondary cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage. This tumor had grown around the artery and had weak[923]*923ened tbe walls of tbe artery. It was quite possible tliat external violence resulted in tbe hemorrhage. It might have caused the rupture: His experience had taught him that a hemorrhage such as occurred is due primarily to an injury; that possibly the deceased might have lived throughout his life without a rupture occurring until some excitement or something raised the pressure so as to induce a rupture. IIow long this tumor had existed he could not state; whether six months or two years. His opinion was that the rupture of the blood vessel was probably occasioned by external violence. The local doctor who removed the brain found an adhesion of the scalp to the cranium bone on the right side about 3J4 inches back, at right angles from the lobe of the ear. It was his opinion that the direct cause of the death of the deceased was hemorrhage superimposed by external violence. Further, he testified that a glioma is a malignant tumor of the brain tissue, cancerous in its nature; that best medical authorities assume that it is due either to chemical or physical irritation.

Another doctor testified to the following effect: lie made a puncture of the spinal column. Upon examination the fluid therefrom disclosed intcrcranial pressure. A glioma is a tumor of rapid or slow growth. Hnder irritation it may become malignant and rapid in growth; without irritation it may be of very slow growth. It might come from application of violence without, and a blow on the head might produce such a condition; a violent blow some four or five months prior to the death of the deceased might have produced the exact condition that the pathologist at the university described. In all probability the hemorrhage of the deceased’s brain was superinduced by external violence although otherwise he admitted that a tumor like glioma might spontaneously produce a hemorrhage.

Another doctor, a witness for the defense, testified to, the following effect: His diagnosis could not be stated definitely; symptoms indicated hemorrhage of brain. This might result from a multitude of causes. The blood clot might have resulted from the hemorrhage caused by the glioma. He could not express any opinion as to the cause of the death. Glioma is not always caused by external violence. Ideal causes of tumors are unknown. Assuming that there had been violence, and assuming the symptoms described, violence might have been the proximate cause of the deceased’s death.

[924]*924On October 29th, 1920, the widow presented to the bureau a claim for compensation accompanied by a certificate of the exchange to the effect that the deceased had been an employee of the undersigned. On November 13th, 1920, the bureau made findings of dismissal without prejudice for the reason that the death of the deceased was not due to injury sustained in the course of employment. Within thirty days thereafter, the widow appealed to the district court from this decision of the bureau.

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Bluebook (online)
194 N.W. 663, 49 N.D. 915, 1923 N.D. LEXIS 42, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gotchy-v-north-dakota-workmens-compensation-bureau-nd-1923.