Non-fatal Accident

John Meesham

Durham Miners' Association
Compensation Department

4395. Wingate. J. Meesham, 73, hewer.

Received injuries to his back on 23rd October, 1912, Compensation was stopped on m st November, 1921, and Meesham asked for it to be restored, refusing to go to the Official Medical Referee.

Adjourned: To be referred to Dr. A. M. Martin for examination and report.

Source: NEEMARC - Ref: NUMDA/6/1/1/3, Reports of the Compensation Department, Vol III covering Jan-Dec 1922

Durham Miners' Association
Compensation Department

4394. Wingate. John Mesham, 73, hewer.

Received injuries to his back by’ a fall of stone on 23rd October, 1912. Compensation was stopped on 1st November, 1921. We would not refer the case to the Official Medical Referee and it came before the Committee at the last meeting when it was adjourned, an examination and report to be obtained from Dr. A. M. Martin.

Dr. Martin reported on 13th March — His present condition is as follows :—

"He looks more than his age. His arteries are atheromatous and on examinating his heart I find there is aortic disease. He suffers from chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

Back. On examining his back I can discover nothing objectively abnormal except that there appears to be definite stiffness in the lumbar spine. This stiffness is in my opinion the result of osteo-arthritis affecting the spine and probably aggravated by the accident. There is no paralysis of the legs nor is there any paralysis of the face.

The left arm show great loss of power and is held to the side with the elbow flexed to a right angle. The fingers and thumb are bent into the palm and there is great difficulty in unbending them. There is general muscular rigidity in the left arm but there are no signs pointing to any injury in any of the joints or any of the bones in the left upper extremity. Since examining the man I have had an opportunity of examining the X-ray films taken by Dr. Gamlen. The Film demonstrating the condition of the lumbar spine shows in the case of the last lumbar vertebra definite bony outgrowths such as one gets in cases of pronounced ostoe-arthritis. The films demonstrating the condition of the bones and joints of the left upper extremity show that there has been neither fracture nor dislocation. I am of opinion that this man in consequence of the accident on October 23rd, 1912, sustained an injury to his lumbar spine and may be also at the same time developed a right sided hernia. He underwent an operation for the latter condition which was entirely successful. As regards the former as often happens in men of his age the condition of ostoe-arthritis developed. Dr. Gamlen in the report of his X-Ray examination states that there is no evidence that there has been any injury to the left upper extremity. He however thinks that there has been a fracture of the fifth lumbar vertebra. If this has been the case then the fracture has not been a complete one as it was not followed by any paralysis of the lower limbs. The X-ray film in my opinion however equally supports the existence of ostoe-arthritis as the cause. With regard to the condition of his left arm this certainly did not result from the accident, but was the direct result of either a haemorrhage in the brain or clotting occurring in important vessels in the brain. My considered opinion is that if disease had not been present such as caused the condition of the left arm, i.e., arterio-sclerosis he ought to have been able after a reasonable period after the accident to return at any rate to light work."

Awarded compensation at the rate of 5/- per week, permanently.

Source: NEEMARC - Ref: NUMDA/6/1/1/3, Reports of the Compensation Department, Vol III covering Jan-Dec 1922

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