The principles and practice of medical jurisprudence / by Alfred Swaine Taylor.

Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles and practice of medical jurisprudence / by Alfred Swaine Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    1211/1290 (page 1147)
    died from inflammation of the lungs; but it was proved that he had laboured under symptoms of puhiionary consumption, and hud been attended by three medical men shortly before he effected the insurance. This was concealed and the policy was set aside on the ground of fraud. A singular case was tried at Glasgow in 1837, in which the proceedings were inverted, compared with the usual English practice in such cases. An Insurance Company brought an action against the representatives of the in- svu'ed, on the issue whether the policy had not been obtained by misrepre- sentation and undue concealment. An insiu-ance Avas effected on the life of a Mrs. Ralston^ on the 10th December 1833. Her own declaration was that she was in good health, and that she was not afflicted with any disease or disorder tending to shorten life. She referred to her usual medical attendant, who certified that he had known her for ten years, and had been in the habit of attending her professionally; that she was last ill in the month of Septem- ber 1833 ; * that her indisposition was acidity of the stomach;' that she had not, to his knowledge, been affected with any illness of such a nature as to influence her general health; that she was then (30th November 1833) in perfect health, and was not subject to fits or any affection of the head, but occasionally to slight headache from acidity in the stomach. He knew of no circumstance in her business or habits of living tending to impair her health or shorten her life. The deceased died of apoplexy on the 3rd September 1834, within nine months from the issuing of the policy. The Insurance Company were about to pay the amoimt, when an action was brought by the medical attendant against the executors of the deceased for payment of 162Z. for medical attendance, &c. on Mrs. Ealston, from the 15th Septem- ber 1833 (two months prior to the date of the policy) to the 4th June 1834. The referees awarded 145Z. to the plaintiff. His books were given in evidence, and it then appeared that between the 19th September and 3rd December 1833 (the date of the proposal for insurance) he had paid her thirty-five professional visits, most of these of long duration. It further ap- peared from the diary that she had been frequently bled—her head had been shaved and blistered, and leeches had been applied to her temples. She had also had constant attendance after the insurance, and in the early part of 1834 had had several fits of epilepsy. Three medical witnesses deposed that tlie declaration of deceased and the certificates given by her medical attendant did not set forth her true condition; and that there had been misrepresentation and concealment of material facts. This was also' the opinion of the judge, and a verdict was returned for the Office. Although the illness, prior to the insi;rance, might have had no connection with the death from apoplexy, it was held that the insiirers ought to have been made acquainted with it. Among the diseases upon the concealment of which policies have been most fi-equently disputed, may be enumerated gout, dropsy, paralysis, e])i- lepsy, hsemoptysis, incipient phthisis, delirium tremens : and to this list may be added drunkenness, intemperance, and irregular habits. Intemperate habits.—In a large number of cases the payment of policies is resisted on the ground of concealed drunkenness and general habits of in- temperance. There is some difficulty in these cases, because medical men may entertain different opinions respecting the effect of such habits upon the general health, and the degree to which they may be safely carried. There is one thino- however certain—whatever may be our opinion of their effect on health we are bound to state, if known to us, that they exist, and thus put it out of the power of a Company to dispute a ^policy upon such a ground. From the frequent concealment of habits of this kind, some Offices now^ adopt the practice of making it a special question, to which a plain negative or