Summary
In Matter of Wessells v. Lockport Cotton Batting Co. (275 App. Div. 873) an award was reversed with a statement by the court that "There is no finding, nor any competent medical testimony to sustain the finding that decedent was suffering from a mental derangement in the nature of a disease."
Summary of this case from Matter of Franzoni v. Loew's Theatre Realty Corp.Opinion
May 11, 1949.
Decision, handed down March 16, 1949 ( ante, p. 733), is amended to read as follows: Appeal by employer and insurance carrier from an award of compensation insofar as it directs payment to the Vocational Rehabilitation Fund and to the Fund for Reopened Cases. Decedent sustained an injury in the course of his employment which required the amputation of a part of his left hand. Several months later he committed suicide. The board has found that the injury to his hand and the subsequent operation caused him to become restless, nervous, jittery, dissatisfied and depressed, and that by reason thereof he committed suicide on October 17, 1947. There is no finding, nor any competent medical testimony to sustain the finding that decedent was suffering from a mental derangement in the nature of a disease. ( Matter of Delinousha v. National Biscuit Co., 248 N.Y. 93.) Proof to sustain such a fact may be available. The award, insofar as it is appealed from, is reversed on the law and the matter remitted to the Workmen's Compensation Board for such further action as it may be advised, with costs to the appellants against the Workmen's Compensation Board. Foster, P.J., Heffernan, Brewster, Deyo and Santry, JJ., concur. [See ante, p. 733.]