Compensation Court Claim For loss Of Leg After Fall Allowed

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30561, 2 October 1964, Page 16

Compensation Court Claim For loss Of Leg After Fall Allowed

Judge Dalglish in the Compensation Court yesterday found in favour of the plaintiff Charles George Free, who claimed from the Attor-ney-General compensation for hospital expenses of £lOO3 9s 2d. an amount calculated at £lO 5s a week for temporary total incapacity from July 21, 1963, about £2OOO for the loss of the right leg, and an unspecified amount for artificial limbs and accessories and their replacement and repair in the future. Mr B. A. Barrer, for the plaintiff, said that on April 27, 1963, Free was employed as a housemaster at the School for the Deaf Hostel, Lyttelton. As he went to wake the boys in one of the dormitories he slipped and fell on a step at the entrance. Treatment necessitated the amputation of the right leg just above the knee. He had not worked since. In explanation of the large hospital bill, Mr Barrer said the £lOO limit on liability had been removed from April 1, 1963, and the liability was now unlimited. Judge Dalglish said that the plaintiff was entitled to incapacity payments from July 21, 1963, till September 23, 1964. He reserved leave for counsel to apply if agreement could not be reached on the ammount for artificial limbs and accessories, their replacement, and repair. He allowed the plaintiff additional medical expenses of £lO 10s and costs at 60gns. Mr C. M. Roper appeared for the Attorney-General. ACCIDENT AT HOSPITAL Judgment was entered for Grace Barbara Bevan, a nursing sister and farmer matron, against the Little Company of Mary. The plainiff was allowed compensation for incapacity arising from a back injury she suffered while working at the Calvary Private Hospital, hospital expenses, 12gns, costs, and Bgns medical fees. The Little Company of Mary was cited as second defendant, and the Nurse Maude District Nursing Association as first defendant. Judge Dalglish held that an accident which the plaintiff claimed she suffered while matron of the Nurse Maude Memorial Convalescent Hospital for Women was proved, but that it had not caused incapacity. He declined to

order costs in the first defendant’s favour. Mr B. A. Barrer appeared for the plaintiff, Mr C. M. Roper for the second defendant, and Mr B. McCelland for the first defendant. The plaintiff said that on the night of March 17, 1963, when she was helping the night sister at the Nurse Maude Hospital to lift a patient from the floor, she felt something “go” in her back, and collapsed. She continued her duties at the hospital until her contract ended on May 23. On June 10 she began working in a nursing position at the Calvary Hospital. The following day she experienced a “tremendous pain” at the base of her spine as she turned to speak to someone behind her. She underwent a bone-graft operation a month later. From the time of her operation until she began looking after a patient privately, on November 4, 1963, she was unable to work. During this period she worked one night at the Calvary Hospital, but could not continue. Judge Dalglish said he could not accept that the incident at the Nurse Maude Hospital was incapacitating from the date it occurred, or any subsequent date. The plaintiff had been able to work for a day, without incident, at the Calvary Hospital. He was satisfied that the incident at the Calvary Hospital created a much more serious immediate effect on the plaintiff’s ability to work. Her incapacity lasted from June 11, 1963, to November 3, 1963, and she would be allowed compensation for that period, excluding the day when she returned to the Calvary Hospital. WEEKLY PAYMENTS Patience and Nicholson (N.Z.), Ltd. (Mr C. B. Atkinson) asked that weekly payments of compensation to Mary Gemmell, a process worker (Mr B. A. Barter), be stopped. The application was opposed. The Court held that the worker was entitled to 10 per cent of permanent disability compensation for the remainder of the six-year period. Leave was given the company to stop the weekly payments of compensation on condition that it paid the 10 per cent of permanent disability with costs, medical fees, and witnesses’ expenses and half the weekly compensation payments for four weeks as a settling-in period.