COMPENSATION COURT

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25305, 3 October 1947, Page 3

COMPENSATION COURT

WIDOW’S CLAIM FOR £lOOO SLAUGHTERMAN’S DEATH A claim by Ellen Annie Cain, a widow, ' of Christchurch, against the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, Ltd., for £lOOO as compensation and £34 9s 6d medical expenses was heard by Mr Jus- i tive Ongley in the Compensation Court yesterday. Mr B. A. Barrer appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr A. C. Perry for the defendant company. The statement of claim said that the plaintiff’s husband, William Cain, a slaughterman, died on April 21, 1947, as the result of an accident or strain while he was employed by the defendant company; his wife and six children had been wholly dependent on him, and that his wages had been £lO 6s 3d a week. The defence was a denial that Cain suffered an accident or strain at his work which caused his death. It was a somewhat rare case of cerebral .hemorrhage and there were not many reported cases, said Mr Barrer. Cain had worked as a solo slaughterman for several years and was a vigorous, fit, and wiry man, aged 42. On the Friday preceding his death he was at work in the normal way, killing lambs. About 2 p.m. that day he was killing a ram lamb and there was a bit of a struggle. Cain remarked to his mate, “This one’s got me slogged,” and his mate, Condick, told him to “get stuck into it.” After the incident, Cain had some difficulty in keeping up with his mate, and the latter eventually had to help him with his work. Two hours after the struggle with the lamb, Cain said he had a headache, and that it “was thumping.” When he went home that night he still had the headache. He had an uneasy night and in the morning his head was still aching, but he went to work. He continued killing lambs, but told his mate he had never had such a headache. Later that Saturday morning Cain said he had gone blind. He lay down in a room for an hour and was then able to walk home. He still suffered severe headaches, and when he got worse a doctor was called. The doctor found Cain in a comatose condition. He was admitted to the Christchurch Public Hospital immediately, but did not regain consciousness and died on the Monday. Supporting evidence was given by the plaintiff and by Andrew Norton Condick, who was Cain’s workmate. William Archibald Johnston, medical practitioner, Lincoln, said he was called to Cain’s residence about 4 p.m. on the Saturday. Cain was in bed in a semi-comatose condition, and the witness came to the conclusion that he was suffering from some lesion in the brain. He considered that Cain must have had some cerebral disease for some time before this. Cause of Death Robert Hector Quentin-Baxter, consulting physician, said the salient points of the post-mortem report were that the bleeding point was not discovered, but there was patchy atheroma throughout the cerebral arteries; there was a considerable degree of hemorrhage in the prefrontal area on the right side: and there was also a hole where the hemorrhage had ruptured through into the right ventricle. From the history of the case, it would seem that Cain arrived at work on the Friday morning in his usual health and was apparently reasonably well until the handling of the ram lamb. That marked the commencement of his trouble. Probably the blood first leaked into' the wall of the artery or it might have oozed directly through the coats of the artery into the brain substance. It would seem that Cain was an unusually courageous man and stuck to his job when lots of men would have given up. The work Cain did on the Saturday morning helped to hasten the rupture in the ventricle. The work he did on the Friday was a material factor in producing the hemorrhage. The disease of the arteries was the main factor in his death. Louis Amos Bennett, surgeon, said that if Cain had not gone to work on the Friday morning he might have lived indefinitely. The work he did on the Friday and on the Saturday morning did help, in a material degree, to cause his death. Charles Graham Riley, consulting physician, said that, in his opinion, Caln’s work contributed in a material degree to hds death. To Mr Perry, the witness said that the fact that Cain cycled home and to work, or an emotional crisis, could have started the rupture, but his work would be a further aggravating factor. The Defence If the hemorrhage had not resulted from work, the defence was freed of liability, said Mr Perry. The hemorrhage might have been brought on by Cain cycling home on the Friday night and back to work on the Saturday morning. Horace William Wilson, clerk, gave evidence that Cain killed the usual number of lambs on the Friday and Saturday morning before his death. William Robert Watson, board walker at the Islington freezing works, and Robert Henry Edmond Moffat, foreman butcher, said no complaints had been made to them by Cain on the Friday about being unwell. Philip Patrick Lynch, pathologist, Wellington, said his understanding of the case was that Cain died of massive cerebral hemorrhage. The disease from which' he suffered was one likely to terminate fatally. It was just as likely that he would have died if he had remained about the house and not gone to work that day. The hearing was then adjourned until to-day.