Opinion
34222.
DECIDED OCTOBER 24, 1952.
Appeal; from Fulton Superior Court — Judge Andrews. June 3, 1952.
Nick Long Jr., for plaintiff in error.
Marshall, Greene, Baird Neely, contra.
The evidence authorized the finding that the deceased received no injury in the course of or growing out of his employment which caused or contributed to his death and the court did not err in affirming the award of the Board of Workmen's Compensation.
DECIDED OCTOBER 24, 1952.
W. J. Butler, by next friend, filed a claim for compensation against the Atlanta Coca-Cola Bottling Company and its carrier for the death of Harry Blount allegedly arising out of his employment with the bottling company. Blount, the deceased, on Friday night, May 4, 1951, was working in the Atlanta Coca-Cola Bottling Company's plant after the floors had been mopped. He was filling buckets while two fellow employees were pouring powder into bottle chargers. These two fellow employees turned their heads in the direction of Blount and saw him in a prone position against a conveyor belt approximately one foot from the floor, pushing himself into an upward position. They did not see him go down and there is no evidence as to how he went down other than statements made to his doctor by the deceased. Blount continued to work the remaining part of the night and returned to work the next day for a short time. He died several days after the fall. The claimant contents that the deceased struck his head in the fall which resulted in an intracranial hemorrhage which caused his death. The full board affirmed the award of the single director finding against the claimant. On appeal to the Fulton Superior Court the award of the full board was affirmed and the claimant excepts.
Dr. R. A. Billings testified in substance for the claimant that he was called to attend the deceased on Monday, May 7th; that his examination did not disclose any external trauma about the deceased's head or any external evidence, such as a breaking of the skin or enlarged area, to indicate that the deceased had received a blow on the head; that an X-ray of the head did not reveal anything to indicate it; that he diagnosed intracranial hemorrhage by an examination of the deceased's eyegrounds with an instrument; that other than by a blow on the head, intracranial hemorrhage can be caused by high blood pressure, syphilis or brain tumor; that he had attended the deceased for ten years prior to his death and he had none of the above diseases; that a person could be struck on the head hard enough to cause an intracranial hemorrhage without any external trauma or outside evidence of the blow; that in his opinion the deceased died from an intracranial hemorrhage caused by a blow on the head.
Dr. Guy H. Adams testified in substance on behalf of the employer that a person need not have high blood pressure or a disease to develop a cerebral hemorrhage; that a person could have an abnormality of a vessel in the brain and that such vessel could rupture "spontaneously"; that in his opinion a person could not receive a blow on the head sufficient to cause an intracranial hemorrhage without leaving an external trauma or some outside evidence of the blow; that this did not mean that the skull necessarily had to be fractured; that such trauma or outside evidence would be apparent almost immediately from the time of the blow and would be evident five days after the blow.
This case was tried on the sole proposition that the deceased struck his head at the time of his fall and that such blow produced an intracranial hemorrhage which caused the death. No one saw the deceased fall and there is no direct evidence that the deceased struck his head in the fall. The only evidence as to the deceased's receiving a blow on the head was the testimony of Dr. Billings that in giving him the history of his case the deceased stated, "I slipped and fell and if it hadn't been for luck I would have busted my head open," and Dr. Billings' testimony that in his opinion the deceased died from an intracranial hemorrhage caused by a blow on the head. We think the crux of the case is the conflicting testimony of the doctors, one to the effect that a blow on the head sufficient to cause an intracranial hemorrhage would not necessarily leave an external trauma or outside evidence on the head, and the other that such a blow would leave an external trauma or outside evidence. Under the facts of this case, the director, as a trior of facts, was authorized to believe the latter testimony in preference to the former and to find that, in view of such fact and the testimony of Dr. Billings, that the deceased had no external trauma or outside evidence of a blow, the deceased did not strike his head in the fall sufficiently to cause the intracranial hemorrhage from which he died.
The evidence authorized the award and the court did not err in affirming the award of the full board.
Judgment affirmed. Sutton, C.J., and Worrill, J., concur.