Opinion ID: 1494321
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Were the Injuries Sustained by the Appellant within the Period Covered by the Policies?

Text: The first policy issued by the appellant to the assured covered the period from November 20, 1925 to November 20, 1926; the second policy covered the period from November 20, 1926 to November 20, 1927. The policies covered, by the provisions of Clause VI,    only such injuries so sustained by reason of accidents occurring within the policy period   . Now the chart kept by the assured of the appellant's treatments shows that she received fifty-five applications of X-ray, commencing upon November 13, 1924, and continuing from time to time until December 3, 1926. The appellant received only fourteen treatments after the policies were in force and forty-one treatments prior to the issuance of the policies. The appellee takes the position that the appellant's injuries were caused by the treatments received by her prior to the inception of any insurance coverage and not by the fourteen treatments received thereafter. It is apparent that the appellee is liable upon its policies of insurance if it be shown that the injuries received by the appellant were sustained by her as a result of the fourteen treatments last given to her. We think also that the appellee must be deemed to be liable upon its policies of insurance if the fourteen treatments last given caused the appellant's injuries because their effect was added to that of the forty-one treatments first given, though the latter of themselves caused no injury, simply creating a condition of susceptibility in the appellant. Such liability upon the part of the insurer is within the terms of paragraph V of the policies. An examination of the appellant's testimony indicates that she noticed ill effects from her treatments for the first time in August, 1926. She stated that at that time there was a small area, circular in shape and in the nature of red spots near one of her knees and that she reported this to Dr. Geyser. She testified that he stated to her that she should continue with her treatments and that there was no cause for alarm upon her part. The appellant also testified that other spots developed upon her body about February or March, 1927. This was a date three to four months after treatment by the assured had ceased. Dr. May, a qualified expert, specializing in radiology, testified as follows in response to the questions indicated: Q.    can you with any degree of reasonable certainty tell us the length of time, prior to the time that this woman came to you in August of 1927, determine when there was a destruction of the blood vessels or capillaries which brought about the condition which you found?    A. Well, you can say with quite a degree of certainty that it was the last number of treatments which have been given, which of course make the conditions appear more. The Court: How many treatments have to bring it about or can't you tell? The Witness: The number cannot be stated, your Honor. Q. Well, the period of time then, Doctor? A. You could say that within a certain period, take three or four or five or six months after a treatment, if this telangiectasis don't appear, I think the patient may never show any. That means that the treatments given did not produce this particular condition.    The Court:    Well, now Doctor, would forty treatments produce this condition or would the fourteen treatments produce this condition or would fifty-four produce it or can't you answer either of those questions? The Witness: I am sure that as your Honor said before, the accumulation of everything, of all the treatments, did it. The Court: But you don't know at what point  The Witness: I think the last treatment certainly contributed a whole lot to bringing about that condition. You may lead up to an erythema, you may lead up to two or three erythemas within a certain time and not get any telangiectasis at all or any degeneration of the skin of that type which (the appellant) shows, but then you may give just one or two treatments on it and that's all the skin could stand and the skin will break down. Now, it is impossible absolutely to say that the last few treatments did it, but I am quite sure that the last few treatments certainly contributed to a very great extent to that. Thereafter, Dr. May was asked the following questions: Doctor, Mrs. Shaw testified here this morning that the first that she observed of the appearance of this rash or spots was on the leg and it appeared about August, 1926. Now, assuming that she had no appearance of any such marks prior to that time, within how many days or months or years, if you please, would it take for that condition to develop that would bring about the appearance of these spots, if you can tell us? A. I have said before in my statement that it may be two, three, four or six months. Q.    Now assuming again that the spots on the arms, neck and other parts of the body, outside of this spot on the leg, did not appear for the first time until February or March of 1927, would your answer to that, to those particular spots, be the same as it was to the spot on the leg, that it was the development of two or three or four or five or six months?    A. Yes. Upon cross-examination it was brought out that an erythema dose, viz: a dose of X-ray inducing abnormal redness of the skin due to capillary congestion, should not be repeated frequently upon the same area because the repetition of such doses causes telangiectasis. Dr. May also testified upon cross-examination, however, that in his opinion each dose shown upon the chart was not a full erythema dose and that the erythema dose could be repeated several times without endangering the skin. The question presented for our determination is whether or not the injuries sustained by appellant were sustained within the policy period. It is at once apparent from an examination of the record that the injuries to the appellant became visible to the eye within the period covered by the policies. It is also apparent from the testimony of Dr. May that it was the cumulative effect of all the treatments that caused the appellant's injuries. But if the testimony of Dr. May be accepted, it must be found that though the treatments received by the appellant prior to the period covered by the policies may have had their effect in preparing her skin and tissues for the injuries which later came upon them, no injuries were actually sustained by the appellant except by reason of the effect of the treatments given within six months of the first appearance of the red spots upon her knee and within six months of the time the later spots appeared upon the other portions of her body. Such treatments were received by the appellant within the period covered by the policies. The expert testimony indicates that the creation of the condition of telangiectasis, under the circumstances of the case at bar, was the result of the accumulation of dosage, that repeated erythema doses might have been given without causing the condition, but when the force of the X-rays upon the appellant's skin had reached a certain proportion or weight the resulting injury took place as an inevitable consequence. The expert testimony presented by the appellant gave a basis for more than a presumption. It was based upon facts within the technical knowledge of the expert witness, which in turn was based upon the appellant's own testimony, Dr. Weller's testimony and the written record of the appellant's treatments. Dr. May's testimony was entitled to such weight as the jury cared to give to it. The jury might have refused to believe it, or have decided that the rebutting testimony offered by the appellee was entitled to greater weight. But the question of the weight and sufficiency of the testimony was properly a question for the jury. Fulton v. Grieb Rubber Co., 72 N.J.L. 35, 60 A. 37; Dickinson v. Erie R. Co., supra; Union Garage Co. v. Wilner, 101 N.J.L. 362, 128 A. 161.