Hazel v. McGrath

BURKE, P. J. Plaintiff filed an action alleging negligence and seeking damages for personal injuries sustained in a rear end type automobile collision. The case was submitted to the jury on the issues of negligence, proximate cause, contributory negligence and damages. The jury returned a verdict in favor of defendant.

The specific injury for which plaintiff seeks damages is the detachment of the retina which caused blindness in his left [20]eye. Prior to this automobile accident, plaintiff had four unnatural conditions of the left eye: refractive error, presbyopia (loss of focusing power which occurs with old age), spasm of the ciliary muscle, and an incipient cataract. Also plaintiff had one kidney removed some time before the accident occurred and he had been suffering from tuberculosis for a number of years.

Four medical experts testified at this trial; three on behalf of plaintiff and one for defendant. The first, for plaintiff, testified that the detachment of the retina was not caused by any of the preexisting conditions of the left eye; that while he was unable to determine the exact cause of the injury the impact of .the accident was a prime suspect as a possible cause. Plaintiff’s second medical witness was of the opinion that the accident caused the injury and that the preexisting defects in the left eye did not contribute to the detachment even in a slight degree. . He also stated that he did not believe that plaintiff’s tuberculosis contributed to the injury. Plaintiff’s third medical witness testified that the various preexisting physical conditions were not likely, in this case, to have led to the retina detachment. He was of the opinion that the impact of the automobile collision caused the injury.

Defendant’s medical witness testified that in his opinion the detachment of the retina preceded the 'accident by more than one week. He indicated that he could not determine the exact cause but that the various preexisting debilitating physical conditions of plaintiff could have predisposed him towards a detachment of the retina. On cross-examination this doctor was confronted by his testimony at an earlier trial of the case reading as follows:

“Mr. Smith : The question by Mr. Johnson in the former trial:

“ ‘My question, Doctor, is this: Taking the history just as it was related to you by the individual, Mr. Hazel, and your examination here on the date that you saw him, I gather the import of what you have said is that he had an eye that had indicated degenerative changes before the accident, but on that history, you would have to conclude that the accident precipitated the detachment ? ’