The Connecticut labor news., 1921-05-06
FATE OF WORKERS COMPENSATION LAW
 IN SUPREME COURT
Whether Disease Can Be Caused by Injury and Must Be Paid
 For, Argued.

Whether or not disease can. be con- traCted by injury in employment and whether or not compensation must be paid i'll such cases, is the theme of a very important case argued before the Supreme Court at Hartford this week and on which may probably hinge a large number of compensation cases i'll the future l he compensation made to Mrs. Mary F. Driscoll of Cedar street, Cambridge, Mass, as a dependent of Daniel w. Randall. her brOther against the Jewell Betting Co.,, was considered.
 Randall was employed by the Jewell Betting Co. on March II, 1920 His duties involved wheeling material on a truck. It was claimed on behalf of the claimant that on that day, while wheel ing truck, one of the wheels struck a bolt in the floor, causing one of the handles of the truck to strike him ill the right side. He worked for the bal ancc of the day and that night had a chill, and from Thursday to Sunday he grew worse. He called Dr. Sydney H. McPhersOn, who found no evidence of injury but did find that Randall was sui fering with pneumonia. The next day, March IS, Randall was removed to the Hartford hospital and continued under treatment of Dr. McPherson at the hos pital to April 7, when he died.
 At death the body was promptly ship ped to Cambridge, where an autopsy was performed by Dr. Timothy Leary, who found i'll the region of the lower lobe of the right lung a clearly defined, green ish patch He also found extending inside the peritoneal cavity streak of hemorrhage, also originating near the lower lobe of the right lung and extend ing several inches down to the pelvis. Dr. Leary reached the conclusion that Randall had died of trumatic pneumonia and that the injury was the exciting cause. On the hearing before Commis- sioner Chandler, Dr. Cochran, Dr. were witnesses for the Jewell Betting Co. All three physicians disagreed with the conclusions of Dr. leary.
 In deciding in favor of the claimant, Commissioner Chandler says the se- pneumonia are significant. The commits sioner, therefore, agrees with the con- ClusOn of Dr. Leary that the pneumonia from which the deceased died was caused by the blow. There are, of course. in cidental and subsidiary facts. The com missioner says he does not leave out of account or underestimate the high char acter and professional standing of the three Hartford physicians, who differ from the conclusion of Dr. Leary. Two of the physicians had treated the man during life, but an autopsy is usually recognized as the most reliable basis upon which to form diagnosis. More over the character and standing of Dr. Leary are noteworthy. He was char acterized by Dr. McPherson, one of the respondents witnesses, as one of the leading pathologists in the country.
 Consequently, an appeal to the super for court was taken from the nding of the commissioner and the appeal was heard by Judge Maltbie, who sustained the commissioner and dismissed the ap- peal. Then the appeal to the supreme court was taken. Thomas J. Molloy ap- peared for Mrs. Driscoll the claimant. and Ralph o. Wells, for the Jewell Betting Co.,, and the American Mutual Liability Co.,, and the American Mutual