Medical evidence and the laws relating to compensation for injury / by R.J. Collie, M.D., J.P.

  • Robert John Collie
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Medical evidence and the laws relating to compensation for injury / by R.J. Collie, M.D., J.P. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    if possible, try to get some sort of definite agreement, but on no account discuss the matter either before the claimant or his solicitor. Beware of the man who says, “ Come, now, let us have all the cards on the table,” whilst you know perfectly well he has a few up his sleeve. You will find, however, as a rule, no difficulty in arriving at some common basis if two honest men are consulting. If you see your opponent is biassed, prejudiced, or a violent partisan, the less you say the less you will give away. Recently a lawyer sent me a case of a lad aged nine who played the role of plaintiff* better than many an adult. (I was for the defendant.) The statement of claim set out that the lad had been permanently disfigured by the loss of a front tooth, namely, his second upper incisor. The lad’s mouth was evidently normal, and I asked his doctor, who was present, to demonstrate the space left by the missing tooth. Behold! the space was also gone. What had fallen out at the time of the accident was the milk tooth ; and by the time of my visit it had, of course, been replaced by the permanent one! I reported that the permanent disfigurement was of no consequence, except for the purpose of cross-examination of the plaintiff’s doctor. Imagine, if you can, what he would have suffered at the hands of a clever cross-examining counsel ! It is safe, until the contrary is proved, to assume that the plaintiff is often untruthful. A young member of our profession lodged a claim for damages for injury which he alleged incapacitated him from duty. A solicitor asked me to examine him, giving me the address of a hotel in London. I telephoned to make an appointment, but was told that the doctor was away for a few days. On asking for his address in the country, I was given the name of a street in an outlying suburb. Suspecting that our young friend might be acting as locum tenens whilst waiting for damages, I had the addresses of all the doctors in the district looked up in the Medical Directory and found he was spending his few days with one of them, whom we shall call Dr. X. I next called and asked to see Dr. X. He was, as I expected, ill, but I was told that his locum tenens would be pleased to see me on his return from his round of professional visits. The “ locum ” was, of course, the plaintiff. The case ended satisfactorily. Spinal Injury. A working man confided to a medical friend of mine that he had been advised by his mate, on presenting himself for medical exami¬ nation, as follows : “ When yer get hirt, tell ’em it’s yer back—the doctors can’t never get round yer back !” Now it is not true that we cannot detect malingering when pain
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