Sweet v. Stutch

DRAPER, P. J.

Defendant doctors appeal from judgment on jury verdict in favor of plaintiff patient.

Plaintiff suffered a crushing type of injury when a crane’s counterweight struck him in the area of the left rear rib cage. This injury occurred in the course of employment, and is in no way chargeable to defendant doctors. They did, however, treat him when he was hospitalized for it. After some 10 days, they applied traction by running a rope from a halter under his chin, over pulleys at the head of his hospital bed, to a 5-pound metal weight tied to the rope. Some eight hours later, at about 5:30 p.m. the knot failed and the weight fell to the floor. Plaintiff testified that he “snapped forward,” “saw a kind of blinding light,” and lost consciousness. There is no question that plaintiff’s total injury was severe, including a cervical whiplash, and required extended hospitalization and treatment. The question was whether the first injury caused it all, or whether the hospital incident contributed to the ultimate result. The jury impliedly found the latter, and defendants contend the finding is unsupported by the evidence.

One suffering from the effects of an earlier injury may recover from a later tortfeasor for damages resulting from additional injury or from aggravation of the preexisting condition

(Ash

v.

Mortensen,

24 Cal.2d 654 [150 P.2d 876];

Rideau

v.

Los Angeles Transit Lines,

124 Cal.App.2d 466, 471-472 [268 P.2d 772];

Smith

v.

Schumacher,

30 Cal.App.2d 251, 263 [85 P.2d 967]).

Plaintiff’s wife testified that when Dr. Friedman, one of the defendants, first saw plaintiff after the traction incident, he said “My God, I wouldn’t have had this happen for the world” and “this will put you back quite a while.” Plaintiff testified that on other occasions Dr. Friedman told him, of this incident, “It’s going to set you back a lot.” Dr. Friedman, before the traction incident, made a written report to a compensation carrier estimating plaintiff’s disability duration