Medical Jurisprudence Commons^™

Witnesses - Privilege Of Communications Between Physician And Patient Applicable To Nonjudicial Proceedings, Alfred I. Rothman

Michigan Law Review

Pursuant to section 43 of the city charter, the City Council of New York appointed a special committee to investigate charges of negligence and maladministration in the treatment of patients at Lincoln Hospital. Subpoenas duces tecum were served upon the commissioner of hospitals and upon the medical superintendent of Lincoln Hospital requiring the production of hospital records, including case records relating to certain named patients. The commissioner refused to produce any of the case cards or records, justifying his position on the ground that the physician-patient privilege was applicable to legislative investigations. The New York Civil Practice Act, section 354, …

Injunctions Power Of Equity To Enjoin Criminal Act - Illegal Practice Of Medicine As A Public Nuisance, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The state, on the relation of a district attorney, sued to enjoin the defendant from practicing medicine in violation of a state statute. The statute termed the offense a misdemeanor and provided for imprisonment and a fine. The state alleged that the defendant's activities constituted a public nuisance because he was unskillful and thus endangered the health and lives of the public. Defendant demurred on the grounds that such conduct did not constitute a public nuisance and that the penal provisions of the statute afforded an adequate remedy. Held, injunction granted on the ground that the defendant's practice of …

Constitutional Law - Psychopathic Proceeding - Due Process And Jury Trial, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Proceedings were brought against appellant under a Minnesota statute providing for commitment of psychopathic persons who showed habitual sexual misconduct. Appellant appealed to the state supreme court for a writ of prohibition, claiming denial of due process. Appellant's contentions were overruled and he appealed to the United States Supreme Court. Held, the statute did not deny due process. Minnesota ex rel. Pearson v. Probate Court, (U.S. 1940) 60 S. Ct. 523.

Public Policies Underlying The Law Of Mental Incompetency, Milton D. Green

Michigan Law Review

Mental incompetency, or legal insanity, has usually been studied in the patchquilt fashion. It appears as a sub-heading of incidental interest in such widely diversified subjects as crimes, contracts, domestic relations, torts and wills. It can, however, be conceived of as a single strand in the seamless web. So viewed, it may appear to wind in and out of the various artificial subdivisions of the law, cutting across each at one particular place or another. And so conceived, it can be studied according to the second and less orthodox method of analysis. Few are the isolated areas in the law …

Insurance - Disability Benefits - Insured's Duty To Remove Disability, Roy L. Steinheimer

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff insured had suffered from diabetes since 1932. Defendant insurance company paid disability benefits till 1937 and thereafter refused to make further payments on the ground that plaintiff had refused to avail himself of the insulin and dietary treatment advised by his physician. Such treatment is neither dangerous, painful, nor detrimental to the patient. From an order sustaining plaintiff's demurrer to defendant's answer, defendant appealed. Held, plaintiff's demurrer sustained. The policies as written define the rights and duties of the contracting parties and should be construed as written. The court will not read into policies by operation of law …

Physicians And Surgeons - Malpractice - Removal Of Swabs By Surgeon - Res Ipsa Loquitur, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Defendant surgeon failed to remove a swab from deceased's body after a major abdominal operation, relying in part on the accuracy of the count made by the head theatre nurse, employed by the hospital in which the operation occurred. In a suit by the mother of deceased against defendant for his alleged negligence, held, the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur applies, necessitating an explanation by defendant, but it is for the jury to decide on the evidence in the entire case whether defendant's conduct constituted a breach of his duty to use due care in performing the operation. Mahon …

Banks And Banking - Liability Of Bank Upon Payment Of The Check Of An Insane Depositor Without Notice Of The Insanity, William L. Howland

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff, as trustee for a depositor, sought in this action to charge the defendant bank with the amount of a check drawn by the depositor while insane. On the ground that the depositor was an inmate of the state hospital for the insane, the plaintiff had been appointed his trustee. Subsequent to this appointment, the depositor drew the check in question, and the defendant paid the amount of the check to the payee. Held, in the absence of actual or constructive knowledge of the insanity, a payment by a bank of the check of an insane depositor is …

Habeas Corpus - Insane Persons - Torts - Civil Action For Obstruction Of Right To Test Legality Of Imprisonment, John P. Cofrin

Michigan Law Review

Claimant had been adjudged insane and committed to a state hospital by order of the court. On March 6, 1936, he signed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, placed it in an envelope addressed to his attorney and left it with an employee of the hospital to be mailed. In the past claimant had written many letters asking for assistance to men in public life, who in turn annoyed claimant's wife. The superintendent of the hospital, therefore, complying with the request of claimant's wife that all his letters be sent to her, mailed her the letter containing the …

Negligence - Proximate Cause - Fraud - False Statement By Druggist As To Ingredients Of Prescription, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff purchased from the defendant a prescription calling for an ingredient free from mercury, to which plaintiff was allergic. Defendant intentionally, for want of the other ingredient, substituted a commercial compound containing mercury without notifying the purchaser. Subsequent applications caused inflammation, and plaintiff's doctor inquired as to whether mercury was an ingredient of the prescription. Defendant, knowing otherwise, replied in the negative. Further applications in reliance upon the statement caused more serious injury. The jury found the defendant negligent in filling the prescription, but a verdict was returned for the defendant on the ground that the injury was not foreseeable; …

Contracts -- Right Of A Physician To Recover On An Implied-In-Fact Contract, Seward R. Stroud

Michigan Law Review

At one time, under the Roman civil law, neither a physician nor an advocate could recover in an ordinary action at law for services rendered. The philosophical interpretation put upon such services was that, each case being sui generis both as to the value of the service to the patient and as to the skill and attainment required of the physician, a fixed and invariable salary could not be predicated upon this basis and therefore the compensation must depend upon the case. This compensation was not a matter of right but a gratuity or honorarium, as it was called, paid …

Criminal Law And Procedure - Physicians And Surgeons - Contraceptive Statutes And Implied Exceptions Thereto, Thomas K. Fisher

Michigan Law Review

A Massachusetts statute made the selling of any drug, medicine or instrument for the prevention of conception a criminal offense. The defendants, a doctor, a nurse, and two social workers, all connected with a charitable association, prescribed and sold contraceptives to non-pregnant, married women. Defendants' offer of proof, admitting the facts charged, but contending that the statute did not apply where the sale was made under a physician's prescription for the preservation of life or health, was found by the trial court to constitute no defense. Held, that the wording was plain and unequivocal allowing for no implied exception. …

Coroners - Inquests - Right To Exhume Body After Burial, James W. Mehaffy

Michigan Law Review

Two weeks after burial of deceased, report was received of analysis of contents of the stomach, indicating death by poisoning. The coroner desired to hold an inquest for further investigation five weeks after burial, and sought to exhume the body for that purpose. The husband of the deceased sought to enjoin the exhumation. Held, the body may be exhumed. Sejrup v. Shepard, (Minn. 1937) 275 N. W. 687.

Insurance - Material Misrepresentations - Matter Of Fact Or Of Law-"Medical Consultation" Cases, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Statutes, in some two-thirds of the forty-eight states, have the approximate effect of changing all warranties in life insurance policies into representations. And in most of the remaining states the courts have interpreted statements of the applicant as representations rather than warranties wherever there has been room for doubt, to avoid the harshness of the rules governing a breach of warranty. The effect of all this is to eliminate immaterial misrepresentations of fact from the list of the insurer's possible defenses, and to increase the importance of determining when a misrepresentation is material, and by whom that inquiry is to …

Evidence - Judicial Notice Of Medical Facts - Judge's Right Of Private Investigation, Edward D. Ransom

Michigan Law Review

A recent case, Anderson v. Jersey Creamery Co., invokes a discussion of the problems of judicial knowledge particularly as it is pertinent to cases involving medical science. This was an action under the Survival Act for electrocution of defendant's employee, who, while working in a wet truck, came in contact with a charged conduit. To maintain the action it was necessary to show that the death was not instantaneous. The father of the deceased testified that he saw his son's face twitch and fingers move while resuscitation was being attempted with a pulmotor. The plaintiff produced no medical testimony …

Evidence - Exceptions To Hearsay Rule - Physician's Testimony As To Statements Of Symptoms Made By Patient, Benjamin H. Dewey

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, while in the employ of the defendant, was injured when a ditch he was engaged in digging caved in upon him. Defendant alleged that the shock made active theretofore dormant pulmonary tuberculosis. He received treatment from a physician at the time of the injury. Upon plaintiff's suit under the Texas Workmen's Compensation Act, the physician was allowed to testify, over defendant's objection, that about a month and a half after the injury, the plaintiff had come to the physician's office, and reported that his sputum was stained with blood. On appeal, it was held, one judge dissenting, that …

Damages - Personal Injury - Negligent Aggravation By Injured Person, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

As a direct result of the defendant's negligence, "plaintiff fell and sustained injuries including a fracture of the pubic bone. Ten months later, knowing that she could not walk unassisted because the bone had not knit, plaintiff attempted to do so, fell and refractured the bone. Held, that plaintiff's negligence, found as a matter of law, was an "efficient intervening cause" making the defendant's negligence remote as to the aggravation of the injury. S.S. Kresge Co. v. Kenney, (App. D. C. 1936) 86 F. (2d) 651.

Injunctions - Interest Necessary To Enjoin The Practice Of A Profession Without A License, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Three individual plaintiffs, as registered optometrists, and the Michigan Society of Optometrists, on behalf of themselves and duly registered members of their profession, filed a bill to enjoin the defendant corporation from violating a section of the Michigan Optometrical Act, and to specifically enjoin the advertisement of glasses and using in connection with such advertisement the statement, "Scientific eye examination included." Held, suit may be brought by parties engaged in a profession to enjoin unfair trade and practice even though such practices are punishable by criminal penalties. Seifert v. Buhl Optical Co., 276 Mich. 692, 268 N. W. …

Criminal Law And Procedure--Insanity--Irresistible Impulse (Kleptomania)

Michigan Law Review

In a prosecution for larceny, held that under a Minnesota statute evidence that defendant had an irresistible impulse to steal could not establish the defense of insanity. State v. Simenson, (Minn. 1935) 262 N. W. 638.

Physicians And Surgeons-Voluntary Sterilization-Public Policy

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, advised by his physician that further pregnancy would endanger the life of his wife, submitted to an operation of vasectomy. Defendant physician informed him that the operation had been successful and that he could resume sexual relations with his wife without fear. The wife, however, became pregnant and plaintiff alleged that as a consequence he suffered mental agony and was put to great expense. He sued his physician on the theory of deceit in falsely representing to him that he was effectively sterilized. The lower court sustained a demurrer on the ground that the contract was contrary to public …

Physicians And Surgeons-When Physician Obliged To Disclose Information Gained Through Doctor-Patient Relation

Michigan Law Review

In April of this year a Minnesota physician, Dr. Clayton E. May, treated for gunshot wounds a certain undesirable person, John Dillinger, very much in demand by the police. He further neglected to inform the police concerning his ministrations, and as a result, was tried in a federal court on a charge of harboring a fugitive wanted under a federal warrant, found guilty, and sentenced to serve two years in a penitentiary and to pay a fine of $1,000. Said a prominent English medical journal in commenting on the case: " . . . colleagues in every country will applaud …

Torts -Temporary Insanity As A Defense

Michigan Law Review

While operating a bus owned by the corporate defendant the individual defendant suddenly became insane and lost control of the bus which struck a parked ice truck owned by the plaintiff McKay, and upon which the plaintiff Sforza was chopping ice. These actions were brought to recover for property damage and personal injuries thereby incurred. Held, in spite of the temporary insanity the individual defendant was legally responsible for the negligence, which is imputable also to the corporate defendant. Sforza v. Green Bus Lines, Inc., et al; McKay v. Same, (Munic. Ct. City of New York, 1934) 268 …

Torts - Death Act-Pecuniary Injury - Effect Of Incurable Disease

Michigan Law Review

Administratrix sued defendant hospital under the "death act" for having negligently caused the death of her husband. The negligence was admitted. Decedent was afflicted with myelitis, an incurable disease, which affected his spine and rendered him a helpless paralytic. Decedent had no ability to earn or support and would have been an object of constant care and expense. Held, the court should have directed verdict for defendant. Smith v. Presentation Academy of Aberdeen, (S. D. 1933) 248 N. W. 762.

Torts - Malpractice - Master And Servant

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff, on threat of discharge from employ of defendant in case of refusal, submitted to a physical examination by a physician retained by the defendant. In making the examination the physician negligently caused a hernia. Held, the suit was not barred by the one year period of limitation on actions for malpractice because no physician-patient relation had been established, there having been nothing more than an examination, and that for the sole benefit of the defendant. Defendant was liable for the acts of the physician on the basis of respondeat superior. New York Central R.R. v. Wiler …

Gifts Causa Mortis - Contemplation Of Suicide

Michigan Law Review

The testator, suffering from melancholia and contemplating suicide, purchased a certificate of stock in the name of his brother and caused it to be deposited in a bank by the latter. Over two months thereafter, the testator stated, in effect, that in the event of his death the certificate should become the brother's property. Held, in affirming the allowance of the final account of the executor, that the transfer of the certificate was a valid gift causa mortis. In re Van Wormer's Estate, 255 Mich. 399, 238 N.W. 210 (1931).

Insurance-Misrepresentations-Insertion Of False Answers By Medical Examiner

Michigan Law Review

If an applicant for life insurance, in answering the many questions put to him by the company's medical representative, tells the truth, but the examiner, in recording the answers, distorts them without the knowledge of the insured, may the beneficiary or the personal representative of the insured show this distortion by parol, and collect on the policy in spite of the presence of false written answers in the application? The New York court of appeals, in the very recent case, Minsker v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co., 254 N. Y. 333, 173 N.E. 4, answers this question in …

Surgeon's Liability For Operation Without The Patient's Consent

Michigan Law Review

Under the maxim volenti non fit injuria, a surgeon may inflict upon the body of his patient what otherwise would amount to a technical battery. The consent of the patient justifies the application of force to his person. Zoterell v. Repp, 187 Mich. 319, 153 N.W. 692; Robinson v. Crotwell, 175 Ala. 194, 57 So. 23; King v. Carney, 85 Okla. 62, 204 Pac. 270; POLLOCK, TORTS, 159; BURDICK, LAW OF TORTS, 110; TORTS, RESTATEMENT No. 1, Sec. 66. A generally accepted limitation to this doctrine is that consent to the commission of an unlawful act …

Irresistible Impulse And Criminal Liability, John Barker Waite

Michigan Law Review

Do you believe in free-will, or mechanistic determinism, or fore-ordination, or fatalism? What do you mean by 'irresistible impulse'? What is the purpose of this prosecution against which you advocate, or deny, irresistible impulse as a defense; and just what do you mean by 'defense'? If, instead of one question, "is irresistible impulse a defense", we should ask these other questions of counsel, judge and medical expert, how often would their answers be in accord? Yet the one question can never be intelligently discussed in the absence of certainty and agreement as to the other premises. There are certain combinations …

Liability In Tort Of Infants And Insane Persons, Francis H. Bohlen

Michigan Law Review

It is universally held that mere infancy or insanity does not preclude liability for the impairment of another's bodily condition or the physical condition of another's property caused by conduct which, if that of an adult or mentally normal person, would be a wrong of aggression or negligence.

But there is a conflict of authority and a wide divergence of opinion among text writers as to the liability of persons who, because of extreme youth or mental deficiency, are incapable of forming a culpable intention, or whose incapacity to realize the probable consequences of their conduct makes it unjust to …

Emotional Disturbance As Legal Damage, Herbert F. Goodrich

Michigan Law Review

Mental pain or anxiety the law cannot value, and does not pretend to redress, when the unlawful act complained of causes that alone." Lord Wensleydale's famous dictum in Lynch v. Knight1 will serve as a starting point for this discussion. His lordship's notion of mental pain is evidently that of a "state of mind" or feeling, hidden in the inner consciousness of the individual; an intangible, evanescent something too elusive for the hardheaded workaday common law to handle. Likewise, in that very interesting problem regarding recovery for damages sustained through fright, it is always assumed, tacitly or expressly, that mere …

Administering Justice The Medical Prepossession, Clarence A. Lightner

Michigan Law Review

This quotation is from a recent document coming from con- servative and intelligent sources, recommending as a cure for economic and commercial unrest, and other evils, the creation of a League of National Guilds.