DEATH AFTER ACCIDENT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 79, 15 March 1934, Page 8

DEATH AFTER ACCIDENT

Two Theories as to Cause WIDOW’S CLAIM FAILS xßy Telegraph - l‘i c*b« A-saociatioo.) CHRISTCHURCH, March 15 Two theories as to the possible cause of death were mentioned m a hearing tn the Arbitration Court of a widow’s claim for £lOOO compensation in respect of the death of her husband. The plaintiff was Sarah Ann Chambers, of Methven, widow of George Chambers, and the defendant Ernest Albert Bland, fanner, of Methven. Chambers died after an accident which occurred on February 22, 1933. and it was alleged that death some weeks later was caused by an accident when cutting up fallen trees on Bland’s property. Chambers contracted to clear one of the defendant’s paddocks of pine trees, which had blown down, by cutting them into firewood. Chambers, while splitting a log, slipped and fell across it. He continued at work for a time and then went home. The Court was asked to decide whether Chambers wa s employed under contract to clear the land of fallen trees and whether the general blood poisoning which caused death was due io the accident. The case was decided on the medical evidence. It was agreed that Chambers died from general blood poisoning. One medical witness said that if the condition leading to blood poisoning had been present before Chambers’s tall on the log the strain would intensify it. Another said that the strain would allow an abscess to form and secondary abscesses, causing blood poisoning would arise from that. Other doctors declared that Chambers had suffered from a low grade of infection for some time and that boils from which Chambers had suffered had released germs into the blood stream, causing abscesses in the kidneys. AU that the accident did was to produce an area of low resistance. His Honour said that two theories had been put forward by the medical witnesses, each one reasonable. Plaintiff had not proved that her theory was the correct one and had not made her case. Judgment was given for the defendant. Costs were not applied for.