234 N.W. 122 | Mich. | 1931
Concurrence Opinion
In Liimatta v. Calumet Hecla Mining Co.,
Under the holding in the Liimatta Case, if plaintiff later on, and by another industrial accident, loses the remaining side vision of his eye, then he will be entitled, at such time, to an award for loss of the eye for industrial purposes, and the award, under my Brother's opinion, will not operate in bar because the loss will be of vision he retained and could use and later lose. If the eye in the Liimatta Case was not lost by reason of retention of side vision only, then plaintiff herein, by retention of side vision, has not lost his eye. If granted compensation now for loss of his eye and he later loses the remaining vision in an industrial accident and is awarded compensation for the loss of the eye, then we will have an instance of a man losing one eye twice. See, also, Hayes v.Motor Wheel Corp.,
Dissenting Opinion
The question here involved is whether, in an accidental injury, the plaintiff has lost an eye within the meaning of the workmen's compensation law (2 Comp. Laws 1929, § 8407 et seq.). At the time of the accident, he was working as a machinist. A piece of metal struck his left eye, lodged there, and caused an injury from which *641 a traumatic cataract developed. In the university hospital at Ann Arbor, the metal and the cataract were removed at the same operation. Another cataract developed, and a second operation was necessary. An agreement to pay compensation at $18 a week was entered into by the parties and approved by the commission. This was paid during actual disability, a period of 16 weeks. The plaintiff returned to work, performed the same labor at which he was engaged when injured, and received the same wages. The defendant filed a petition to stop compensation. The plaintiff countered with a petition claiming compensation for the loss of an eye. The deputy commissioner granted the compensation asked for by the plaintiff. On appeal to the board, his award was vacated, and an order entered stopping compensation. The action of the board is here reviewed on certiorari.
It is conceded that in the surgical operations necessarily performed on the injured eye the lens was entirely destroyed, resulting in the loss of direct vision to the extent of from 90 to 98 per cent., and that because of the loss of the lens, the injured eye cannot co-ordinate with the direct vision of the good eye. If the plaintiff had no other useful vision, these facts would constitute the loss of an eye within the meaning of the compensation act. Stammers v. Banner Coal Co.,
It is undisputed that the plaintiff has no useful direct or central vision from the injured eye. He has peripheral or protective vision. The function of the eye in that respect has not been disturbed. Peripheral or protective vision is a side vision. It enables one to see moving shadows and objects appearing from the side of the eye. In his testimony, Dr. Slocum illustrated it as follows:
"If you look at your finger here, if I look at my finger here steadily, I see you men over here at the side, but you are all out of focus, yet if you were receding or coming towards me, I would know it. That would protect me from injury if my vision was reduced to that amount, so the protective vision is vision for objects without regard to their form or shape, that you can tell something about by the rapid increase or diminution of size, whether they are approaching or going away from you. A very valuable thing to possess with a poor eye, when you are crossing streets, and you are liable to be run into by an automobile, to see an approaching automobile from the side of the injured eye."
Dr. Owen testified:
"Q. When you speak of useful vision you refer only to protective vision, that is, noting objects from the side?
"A. Yes.
"Q. If a man is working at a machine, he can't see to put certain parts into the machine with that eye?
"A. No. * * *
"Q. And it would practically amount to this that he would have to use his good eye?
"A. Yes.
"Q. And do without the injured eye or he would have to use the injured eye corrected and do without the good eye? *643
"A. Yes. * * *
"Q. At all times when Mr. Powers is using his right eye he has also protective vision in the left eye when uncorrected?
"A. Yes, just the same at work as he would be on the street. He has ability to determine shadows and objects."
Dr. Wetzel testified:
"All he has in the left eye is capacity to see moving shadows."
None of the specialists who testified claims that, independently of the good eye, the plaintiff has any greater vision than to discern moving shadows and objects to the side of the injured eye. There is no doubt that, without the aid of the good eye, it would be impossible for the plaintiff to do the work at which he was engaged when injured. Has he lost an eye within the meaning of the compensation act? Of course he has some useful vision left in the injured eye, but the test is whether such vision is adequate for industrial pursuits.Liimatta v. Calumet Hecla Mining Co.,
The order should be vacated and the case remanded for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion. The plaintiff should have costs.
POTTER, J., concurred with McDONALD, J.
Dissenting Opinion
Under the statute, loss of an eye means loss of the sight or vision of the eye. Rye v. Chevrolet Motor Co.,
A variation of the rule occurs where one eye has been previously destroyed, and compensation is sought for loss of the remaining eye. Although, as a matter of fact, loss of the remaining eye results in total disability, it is held to be only partial disability arising from the accident and compensable specifically as for loss of an eye and not generally as for disability. Weaver v. Maxwell Motor Co.,
The cases display considerable variety and divergency, but we are not called upon to reconcile them. It may be noted that, except in the Collins Case, where the board had held that the injury to the remaining eye had caused total disability and was compensable as such under the general provisions of the statute, the decisions of the compensation *646 board on loss of an eye have been uniformly affirmed by this court. The application of the test to a specific case is very largely a question of fact upon which the finding of the board is conclusive, if supported by evidence. Liimatta v. Calumet Hecla Mining Co., supra; Hayes v. Motor Wheel Corp., supra;Banker v. Chevrolet Motor Co., supra.
In the instant case, there was testimony that plaintiff's eyes, without corrective glasses, co-ordinate so that he has the simultaneous benefit of the whole sight of the right eye and the protective vision of the left eye. Corrective glasses would increase the sight of the injured eye to from 66 2/3 to 80 per cent. of normal, but would cause want of co-ordination with the other. However, the possibility of such increase is valuable because, if the good eye be later destroyed, the injured one could then be brought back to a considerable proportion of normal vision.
Plaintiff can see objects and count his fingers with the left eye. One doctor testified that his protective sight is useful in industry, that it enables him to see objects at the side and may protect him from being struck, and another said his peripheral vision is of a decided benefit to him in a factory or industry. As a matter of fact, he has been earning more wages than before the accident and at the same machine.
The case presents an issue of fact upon which the decision of the board is final, and it is affirmed, with costs.
BUTZEL, C.J., and CLARK, SHARPE, and NORTH, JJ., concurred with FEAD, J.