BRAKEMAN’S DEATH

Grey River Argus, 26 September 1944, Page 2

BRAKEMAN’S DEATH

FULL COMPENSATION ALLOWED Maximum compensation of £l,OOO, including the amount already paid, is granted Catherine Dunshur Morgan, of Stockton, and her three children, in a reserved judgment of the Compensation Court, delivered by Mr. ■Justice O’Regan. Mrs. Morgan claimed that her husband, Noah Thomas Morgan, died as a result of injury oy accident in the course of his employment with the Westport-Stockton Coal Company as a brakeman. At the hearing Mr. W. D. Taylor appeared for plaintiff and Mr. J. W. Hannan for the defendant company. The history in the case showed that Morgan strained his right leg when he went to return a derailed truck to the line. After a period off work he carried on for 10 months, but was subject to attacks of pain in the leg. The accident occurred in October, 1942, and in the following August it was necessary to amputate Morgan s right leg above the knee. Dr A. B. Pearson, pathologist at the Christchurdh Hospital, reported that parts of the limb removed were afflicted with Buerger’s disease Morgan continued to have spasms of pain and cramp and died suddenly last ■January. , In his summary of the case His Honour said that blood clotting is a characteristic of Buerger’s disease when it has reached a certain stage, and it not infrequently happens that the great artery of the lungs becomes occluded by a large clot, causing instant death. Dr. Pearson gave evidence that disablement was precipitated by the accident, and that collateral circulation was damaged or destroyed as a result of the ett^ T - A medical referee called by tne Court, Dr. W. Gilmour, pathologist at the Auckland Public Hospital, agreed with the views of Dr. Pearson He considered that the straining’ of the muscles, necessarily im volved in the effort, damaged, _if u. did not destroy, the collateral circulation and so caused the onset of intermittent claudication.