285 A.D. 914 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1955
Appeal by an employer and the insurance carrier from an award of compensation made to claimant by the Workmen’s Compensation Board. The board found the claimant contracted pulmonary tuberculosis, as an occupational disease, while working as a registered nurse in St. Mary’s Hospital of Troy, New York. Claimant became employed in the hospital mentioned on January 13, 1948, where she became disabled on account of a tubercular infection. When she entered this employment she was subjected to a physical examination which included an X ray of her chest. This X ray was completely negative and showed no signs of any tubercular infection. A subsequent X ray taken on May 17, 1948, disclosed a massive pleural effusion which indicated a tubercular infection. There was powerful and almost incontrovertible proof that she contracted the disease between the dates mentioned. The query remained whether she became infected through contacts with patients in the hospital. There is some evidence that she attended patients in the hospital who were later found to be suffering from tuberculosis. She could recall the names of but