205 Alexander C. Calisch, for plaintiff, direct. step on the ground? I don't know what end you call it. But to use plain English, there is a sort of an enlargement on the end and then there is a small portion of the bone next to it and then when it comes out into the joint, it is enlarged again and that fracture was in that small portion of it? Was there a fracture in that portion of the bone? A. bone? There was a fracture in that portion of the Q. And there was also a fracture in the upper enlarged portion which is called the joint? A. Not far from the joint. Q. That is what that picture shows to you? Q. Aside from what the picture shows, you don't know anything about this man's foot? A. No, sir. 206 ALEXANDER C. CALISCH, a witness called on the part of the plaintiff, being duly sworn, testified as follows: Q. Did you examine the plaintiff in this action? A. I did. 607, 208 Alexander C. Calisch, for plaintiff, direct. Q. When? A. Last night. Q. With whom? A. Q. In company with Dr. Elder of Oswego. You may go on and describe what condition you found. A. Found that the left leg was smaller at the calf than the right. Q. Give your measurements if you will. A. The left calf measured 16 inches and the right calf 16 and a half inches. Just above the ankle joint the left leg measured 9 and three-quarter inches and the right 9 and a quarter. Just through the anklejoint or through the joint itself the left measured 11 and three-quarters and the right 11. At the instep the left foot measured 10 and a quarter inches and the right 10. Q. Go on and state what further examination you made and what you observed. A. I made tests as to the amount of stiffness in the ankle joint; I found that the man could move his foot backward and forward in that direction (Indicating) quite freely, but in lateral motion of that nature (Indicating) there was a limited motion. In making the examination of sensation along the foot, I found that along the big toe that he could not distinguish very readily the pricks of pins or the sensations of heat or cold; that he lacked sensation towards the end of the big toe of the left foot. Q. What did that indicate? A. Indicated that there must have been some 210 211 212 213 Alexander C. Calisch, for plaintiff, direct. nerve injury at some time to cause the lack of sensation there. Q. Where does the nerve come that supplies that sensation to that part of the foot? A. It comes down through this portion of the foot down through there (Indicating). Q. A. In the vicinity of where the fracture was? in that vicinity there is (Indicating). Q. What else did you discover about the condition? A. Found a thickness in that region of the foot (Indicating). Q. What region is that? A. The region of the os calcis or the heel bone; it showed some thickening through there, indicating that there had been some new bone or growth thrown out which comes as the result of a fracture. Q. What further did you observe? A. That there was what we call an edema or commonly called dropsy in the limb, the left leg. That in moving the foot, bending the toes, he complained of pain shooting along that side of his foot (Indicating). Q. The inside of the foot? A. The inside of the foot. Q. And what did that indicate? A. That would indicate that there was some nerve injury or muscular injury through that part of the foot. Q. Can you say with reasonable certainty 216 215 214 Alexander C. Calisch, for plaintiff, cross. whether or not in the ordinary course of nature this injury will be permanent? Mr. Cheney: I object to it as improper in form and incompetent. The Court: Overruled. Mr. Cheney: Exception. A. It will be. Cross-Examination by Mr. Cheney: Q. When you answered that question you don't mean to say that the present condition of that foot as you found it last night will continue, do you? A. The condition of anesthesia, the condition of thickness where the fracture was of the os calcis or the heel bone, that will be permanent and that will always continue, that thickness there and, and that roughness and that amount of injury at the heel which involves the nerves supplying the big toe,—he will always have more or less anesthesia or lack of feeling at the big toe. So far as this edema or dropsy in the leg, that will eventually by use and by massage and by treatment, that would go away. A. And that swelling of the ankle joint that is there now, by proper care that would be gone, wouldn't it? A. Some of it; yes. Q. That condition that you found there is the result of the lack of use, isn't it? A. Some of it; the condition of swelling and condition of edema is due to lack of use, but the lack of sensation at the end of the toe and the thickness here 217 218 219 Alexander C. Calisch, for plaintiff, cross. (Indicating) where the fracture is, that has nothing to do with the lack of use. Q. That lack of sensation appeared when you used the toothpick, didn't it? A. Not alone. Q. ette? That didn't appear when you used the cigar A. Yes, it did; I got the cigarette pretty close to his big toe before he told me it was burning. Q. He jumped, didn't he? A. No, he didn't jump; he said it was hot. Q. When you used the toothpick he didn't disclose that he had any sensation, but when the cigarette got there without his knowing, then he jumped? A. No, he didn't jump; he said it was hot. When I had the point of a scissors, I had to stick it in pretty deep before he said he could feel it. Q. But the other thing was the surprising thing; he wasn't expecting? A. I don't know as he was expecting any of it; I hadn't told him what to expect. Q. Of course, this thickening that you spoke of in that bone is the ordinary result of a fracture of a bone? A. Always get a thickening with a fracture. Q. When there is a break in a bone, it grows together and that is the way it is done, by a deposit of bony matter in the fracture and around it and that is nature's way of taking care of the difficulty, isn't it? A. Yes. |