Opinion ID: 2608427
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: medical proof of causation

Text: Appellants next contend that the medical evidence adduced at the trial fails to show any direct or positive proof of causation and that it leaves to mere speculation whether or not the ensuing operation was necessitated by the accident. Immediately after the collision, Mrs. Riley experienced some pain in her neck and shoulders and saw a doctor that same afternoon. Five days later, on the 8th of June, 1964, she consulted an orthopedic specialist, who took several X-rays and suggested conservative treatments of heat and rest. Mrs. Riley also underwent physical therapy at his suggestion. By the middle of October, the orthopedist recommended that she see a neuro-surgeon. This she did and in January, 1965, an orthopedic surgeon performed an operation consisting of a disc fusion to the fifth, sixth and seventh cervical vertebras on Mrs. Riley. This is the surgery for which a large part of the special damages were allowed by the trial court. The evidence disclosed that in July, 1962, Mrs. Riley had experienced some of the same symptoms upon which Mrs. Riley's specialists based the necessity of the surgery in 1965, and it is appellants' contention that the evidence was not clear concerning how much of the injury was received in the June, 1964, accident and how much was pre-existing. Nothing would be served by delineating in detail the testimony of the expert witnesses who testified at the trial and by depositions regularly introduced in the record. Suffice it to say there is ample, competent, expert evidence sustaining the finding of the trial court that the injuries received in the June, 1964 accident made necessary the surgery performed in January, 1965. This court has consistently followed the principle that when the findings of the trial court are supported by substantial, competent, though conflicting, evidence, such findings will not be disturbed on appeal. Formont v. Kircher, 91 Idaho 290, 420 P.2d 661 (1966); Meridian Bowling Lanes, Inc. v. Brown, 90 Idaho 403, 412 P.2d 586 (1966); King v. MacDonald, 90 Idaho 272, 410 P.2d 969 (1965).