144 Iowa 332 | Iowa | 1909
While driving over what is known as the Dennis bridge in Taylor County, June 5, 1907, that structure collapsed, and plaintiff with his team was precipitated to the bed of the creek below, a distance of about sixteen feet. The verdict fixed the damages resulting from the injuries received at $5,000, and this is said to be excessive. Plaintiff fell some feet away from the team, and immediately undertook to let them loose and called for help. He did not supposfe himself much hurt, and rode home in a neighbor’s buggy. But he did not sleep well that night, and in the morning a physician was called. He was confined to the house for about two weeks, and during that time suffered a great deal of pain, especially in the side and back. He has been unable to perform manual labor since, though he has dealt in stock to some extent, as he did previous to the accident. While somewhat improved at the time of the trial, some eight months after the accident, his appetite was poor, he did not sleep well, and the condition of his knee was such as to interfere with locomotion, and pained him when riding in a buggy. Blood was discharged with urine for about a week after the injury, and one of the physicians who examined him testified that owing to the condition of his kidney, pus still appeared in his urine in varying
The physician who called testified that upon examination he found a great deal of tenderness over defendant’s body, especially all the larger muscles; that on the right leg below the knee was a bruise; that on the left side below the occipital arch of the ribs he found a place which would give way readily, and concluded that the cartilage of the ribs was torn loose; that there was no-lesion at the knee. The swelling of the knee has disappeared, but a squeaking or crepitus has become marked, and the physician thought that the breaking of the cartilage or breaking of the bone under the kneecap might account for this. An examination was made with the X-ray machine and both he and another physician observed what looked to be an enlargement of the spleen. They also observed that the upper part of the patella was downward farther on one side than on the other, and that the muscles were pushed upwards, and that the lower end of the femur was enlarged. The doctor first mentioned was, of the opinion that plaintiff had suffered much pain, but was unable to say that the injuries would prove permanent. His temperature had continued from one and one-half to two degrees higher than normal. The second physician thought he observed a swelling below -the kneecap which was very tender, the grating of the knee, and thought this would interfere with locomotion. Both considered the injury to the knee permanent, but thought it might be improved by an operation. The plaintiff was examined by still another physician at the Cottage Hospital in Crestón. He testified that the stomach was moved over to the right more than it should be; that he had a
Y. In the seventh paragraph of the charge, the court instructed the jury that: