INQUESTS HELD ADVISABLE

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23448, 1 October 1941, Page 10

INQUESTS HELD ADVISABLE

—♦ — COMPENSATION COURT CASES WIDOW’S CLAIM FOR DEATH OF HUSBAND (P.A.) WELLINGTON, September 30. “For obvious reasons,, an inquest is advisable nowadays in every case of this class," said Mr Justice O’Regan, in the Compensation Court, giving judgment in a case in which Sarah Jane Leask, a widow, of Palmerston North, claimed compensation from the Palmerston North Power Board for,the death of her husband. While working on a punt in the Manawatu river Leask was obliged to exert himself very severely in starting the engine. Subsequently he complained of feeling unwell, and died five days later, although in the meantime, he had continued working. There was a conflict of medical evidence over the- question of the stale of Leask s health before he unduly exerted himself and a post-mortem, his Honour said, would have placed the matter beyond doubt. In the circumstances he had no alternative but to non-suit the plaintiff. He had previously said it was evident that the widow was so overcome by grief at her husband’s death that she did not. think of claiming compensation until some days after, and that an inquest was desirable did not occur to the doctor who certified that death was due to heart disease, presumably because his opinion was not asked about the possibility of recovering compensation until after interment. , , ■ “I am blaming nobody; but most certainly it would be well if everybody concerned, relatives, doctors, union secretaries, magistrates, and coroners, realised the importance of a postmortem examination and an inquest in every case where there might possibly be a claim for compensation.”