IMPORTANT JUDGMENT

Evening Star, Issue 25461, 17 April 1945, Page 6

IMPORTANT JUDGMENT

DELATION OF EFFORT AND HEART DISEASE

PREVIOUS DECISIONS COMPLETELY REVERSED

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, April 17. A complete reversal of previous decisions in New Zealand in cases where it was alleged that excessive effort at • work had caused heart disease has been made in a judgment of the Compensation Court delivered by Mr Justice O'Regan. Hitherto it was held that where in- • capacity or death was due to * coronary thrombosis, compensa-

tion was not payable, and in lectures to university students it was maintained that coronary thrombosis bore no relation to effort.

The judgment referred extensively to an article in the ' American Heart .lournal' of last June which supports the view of the present ease, taken by l)r 0. R. Burns and Dr Moivyn Williams, ot Wellington. It also quoted two recent cases, in the Commonwealth High Court in which the plaintiff recovered damages, but these were cases where a post mortem examination had been hold.

The plaintiff was Walter Joseph Charlton, of Johnsonville, and the defendant his employer, the Makara County Council. He suffered an attack after using a cross-cut saw in an awkward position on March ?>. 1944.

His Honour said that there were many questions in connection with which medical knowledge was in a progressive or developmental stage, and it would appear that the court was now concerned with one of them. The article in ' American Heart Journal ' might fairly-'be taken as the latest word on the subject under discussion. The four authors (one of whom was consulting cardiologist to the American navy) argued that acute coronary disease should be di.vided into coronary occlusion and coronary insufficiency. Coronary occlusion was iJrodueed bv a complete obstruction of a coronary artery, and effort played no part in causing it. Coronary insufficiency, on the other hand, was usually precipitated b,v some" factor which increased the work of the heart-or reduced the coronary blood flow. The, views they expressed, said the authors, had been firnilv established both in Germany and the United States. They maintained that coronary insufficiency might be precipitated by effort or emotion, and that coronary occlusion and coronary insufficiency might' be determined by diagnosis. Such an article, appearing in a journal of such standing, cannot be ignored." said His Honour. ," The article is clear and convincing, aud it is quite evident that it breaks new ground. I can find no reference to the view set forth in the several text books I have consulted. Some critics may maintain that that fact rather derogates from the value of the article, but the argument so convincingly put by the four authors, one of whom at least is a consultant cardiologist to the American navy, must carry no little weight, particularly when we bear in mind that it tends to'clarify a problem on which professional opinion is so acutely divided."

Accordingly, said His Honour, he had no hesitation in finding jn favour of plaintiff.

The plaintiff was awarded £BO3 12s 3d.