So-called 'concussion of the spine' in railway injuries / by John G. Johnson.

  • Johnson, John George.
Date:
[1883?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: So-called 'concussion of the spine' in railway injuries / by John G. Johnson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    seriously call for consideration. For instance, at this time last year, a trial took place at Guild Hall, in the Court of Common Pleas, on the part of a commercial traveler, who prosecuted the Great Northern Railway Company for com- pensation on account of an injury alleged to have been sustained from a collision on their line. In this case, Sir William Ferguson, Mr. Erichsen and Dr. Russell Reynolds declared that there was organic disease in the spine, which in all probability would soon prove fatal; while, on the other hand, Mr. Borlase Childs, Mr. Pollock, of St. George’s Hos- pital ; Mr. Cock, of Guy’s Hospital; Dr. Risdon Bennett, of St. Thomas’ Hospital; Dr. Dunsmure, President of the Edin- burgh College of Surgeons, and myself, no less confidently expressed the conviction that there was no organic disease whatever, and no reason why- the claimant should not enjoy good health. The jury, instead of the £12,000 asked, gave £4,700 ($23,500) damages, and before the end of many months the plaintiff, who had been rapidly recovering, admitted he ivas quite well and continues to he so. “ The truth is, that when juries find the medical evidence so conflicting—not being able to judge for themselves as to the merits of the case—they almost always decide in favor of the claimant; so there is great encouragement afforded to un- founded or exaggerated demands for redress. Indeed, any man who travels by railway may easily obtain a competence by stumbling on the platform, after the door of his carriage has been opened by a servant of the company, but before the train has ceased to move. He has merely to go to bed, call in a couple of sympathizing doctors, diligently peruse Mr. Erichsen’s lately published work on railway injuries, go into court on crutches, and give a doleful account of the distress
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