Opinion
November 16, 1961
Present — Bergan, P.J., Coon, Herlihy, Reynolds and Taylor, JJ.
Appeal by employer and carrier from a decision of the Workmen's Compensation Board which awarded death benefits upon a finding that decedent's death was causally related to an industrial accident. The only issue is such causal relationship. On May 27, 1957, decedent fell from a scaffold and sustained a fractured skull and brain injury. Subsequently his condition was diagnosed as chronic brain syndrome associated with brain trauma with psychotic reaction. His mental condition progressively deteriorated and on November 14, 1957 he was admitted to Creedmoor State Hospital where his mental and physical condition continued to deteriorate. He died in the hospital on August 24, 1958, and the immediate cause of death, discovered for the first time on autopsy, was a "Biliary peritonitis, complicating ruptured gall bladder." It is undisputed that the brain damage was the direct result of the accident and brought about decedent's confinement in Creedmoor State Hospital. It is likewise undisputed that decedent's mental condition was such that he could sense no pain or indicate to physicians the location of any area of distress. There is medical evidence that for this reason his gall bladder condition was not detected in time for any treatment or corrective procedure until too late. The clinical director at Creedmoor testified that the brain injury alone would have hastened decedent's death, and also testified unequivocally that decedent's mental condition and inability to indicate his distress in time for proper treatment was in direct causative factor in his death. In these circumstances we may not say as a matter of law that the board could not find causal relationship. ( Matter of Sampson v. Alco Prods., 7 A.D.2d 663.) Award unanimously affirmed, with costs to the Workmen's Compensation Board.