Kaross v New Unified G M Co Ltd [1911] ZATPD 52 (26 April 1911)

Master and Servant - Workmen's Compensation - lncapacity capable of Treatment by Operation - Refusal to Undergo Operation - Reasonableness - Act 36 of 1907 - Statement of Case by Magistrate Under Act 11 of 1910, sec. 4

When an injury has occurred in the course of his employment to a workman, causing an incapacity for work, which might be removed by a surgical operation, and the workman refuses to undergo such operation, the incapacity is deemed to be due to such refusal and not to the accident, if the workman acts unreasonably in refusing.

Neither the fact that medical evidence unanimously supports the reasonableness of the operation, on the one side, nor that the workman himself honestly is unwilling to undergo the operation, on the other, are conclusive on the question of reasonableness.

In stating a case for the opinion of the Court, under Act 11 of 1910, sec.4, a Magistrate should state clearly and succintly the facts found by him, and then the question of law which the parties desire to be answered by the Court.