Diseases Of The Nervous System Resulting From Accident And Injury PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 edition. Excerpt: ... part iii medico-legal considerations chapter I personal-injury claims and expert witnesses Frequency--Medical-Expert Witnesses m i Frequency At the present time it is a rule, with few exceptions, that persons who suffer real or supposed injury in railway or other accidents demand compensation from the companies or individuals responsible. Mr. Lawrence Godkin, in Hamilton's "System of Legal Medicine," states that "probably half the jury cases tried in the courts of the State of New York alone, in any one year, are actions for personal injuries resulting from alleged negligence." Mr. E. Parmelee Prentice has carefully examined the records of the Chicago courts which have jurisdiction of these cases. The results are somewhat startling. He says: "In 1875 there were altogether about 200 personal-injury suits pending in Cook County. During the first six months of 1890 the number of these suits brought in Cook County was 346, the total damages claimed being $2,814,860. During the corresponding six months in 1896 the number of such suits brought in Cook County was 893, and the total amount of damages claimed was $13,510,000. It would be reasonable to as sume from these f1gures that there are now pending in Cook County 3,600 of these cases, and that the damages claimed are between $50,000,000 and $60,000,000." It is needless to add that this enormous increase is out of all proportion to the increase in the number of accidents. Thus personal-injury claims constitute a very important feature of modern life. Not only transportation companies, but private individuals as well, fully expect to pay for injuries which are received through actionable negligence. Similarly, few