Medical Jurisprudence Commons^™

Medical Evidence And Testimony, Robert V. Lamppert

Cleveland State Law Review

It is the purpose of this article to explain the various ways in which medicine becomes involved in the law and to point out the problems and difficulties involved. Since this article is written for both medical doctors and attorneys, the detailed explanations and terminology of each profession will necessarily be kept at a basic level. It is hoped that a forthright demonstration of the basic factors involved, along with an attempt to explain the problems complicating the points of controversy and misunderstanding, will help somewhat in creating a better understanding between the two professions and enable them to better …

Book Reviews, William J. Curran, Edward R. Hayes (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Forensic Medicine By Douglas J. A. Kerr New York: MacMillan Co.,1957. Pp. v, 363. $6.50.

Practical Forensic Medicine By Francis E. Camps & W. B. Purchase New York: MacMillan Co., Pp. vii, 541. $13.50.

reviewer: William J. Curran

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Close Corporations: Law and Practice By F. Hodge O'Neal. Chicago: Callaghan & Co. 2v. Pp xx, 369; vii, 437. $30.00.

reviewer: Edward R. Hayes

Gair & Cutler: Negligence Cases: Winning Strategy, Marcus L. Plant

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Negligence Cases: Winning Strategy. By Harry A. Gair and A. S. Cutler.

Workmen's Compensation - Compensability Of Injuries Resulting From Physical Examinations, Michael M. Lyons

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a dairy worker, suffered an infection in her left arm as a result of submitting to a Wassermann test as ordered by her employer. The county board of health required dairy workers to take the test as a condition of their employment and the order was issued in pursuance thereof. Plaintiff filed a claim for compensation under the state Workmen's Compensation Act which was rejected by her employer but sustained upon a hearing before the state commission. Defendant's exceptions were overruled on appeal to the superior court. On appeal to the supreme court, held, reversed. The injury did …

Psychosomatic Disease And The Law, Carl E. Wasmuth

Cleveland State Law Review

There are fundamental differences between the standard of probabilities in law upon which a jury must deliberate, andthe standard of certainty in the scientific laboratory of medicine which an investigator must respect. This conflict is nowhere more evident than in the field of psychosomatic disease. This area of medicine has long been recognized but it was only in recent years that it has become the target for intense research. This lack of medical interest in what was considered a fringe area has caused the legal profession to substitute law for medicine. Eventually, however, science will progress in the field of …

Combating The Traumatic Effects Of Industrial Noise, W. F. Scholtz

Cleveland State Law Review

Today's increased interest in factory noise is partly created by the fact that exposure to sound under certain conditions may cause hearing impairment. This interest has been reflected in both management and labor circles. The seriousness of the problem is evidenced by a sudden increase in the number of claims filed for industrial hearing loss, presumably caused by exposure to high intensity sound. Unfortunately, major uncertainties exist, making the establishment of standardized tests and measurements difficult. Allison Chalmers Manufacturing Company and competent medical authorities have done a great deal of valuable preliminary study, making it possible to set tentative standards …

A Study Of Fatal Trauma, Earl B. Sanborn

Cleveland State Law Review

Treatment of the complications of the injured patient is frequently more important than the injury itself. Such complications as shock, traumatic wet lung, atelectases, etc., are a direct result of the injury. Patients may suffer obvious severe trauma, only to die of the unrecognized and untreated complication. Postmortem examinations establish the nature, extent and effect of trauma-i.e., causation, from the lawyer's as well as the physician's point of view.In all cases of death following traumatic accident, the lawyer should investigate the unapparent as well as the obvious injuries; ordinarily by use of autopsy. In a surprising number of cases inadequate …

Frontal Injuries Of The Skull, Paul H. Crandall

Cleveland State Law Review

Results of injuries to the frontal parts of the skull are often serious but treatable by prompt surgery. Various types of fractures are common. Most dangerous is the possibility of infection in the interior cavities of the skull. X-ray study of such injuries is practically mandatory. Failure to give prompt and proper treatment often results in serious complications later. Any injury to the frontal parts of the skull should be viewed by attorneys as serious, with strong probability of future complications except perhaps when prompt medical attention of highly modern character has forestalled some of the possible complications.

Secondary Effects Of Trauma: (Pain) Sympathetic Dystrophies, Louis W. Lewis

Cleveland State Law Review

Sympathetic Dystrophy or causalgia (pain) is a disability following traumatic injury. It consists of burning pain, glossy sweating, skin changes, and exquisite tenderness caused by tissue damage involving the sympathetic nervous system. Treatment consists of "blocking" the sympathetic nerves to the area by injecting drugs or by surgical repair. As the item of "pain and suffering" always is a major factor in a lawyer's estimate of the proper amount of a damage award, the medical analysis here presented is of wide interest and utility to lawyers as well as to physicians.

Medicolegal Aspects Of Industrial Noise, Meyer S. Fox

Cleveland State Law Review

Occupational hearing loss may be defined as a hearing impairment in one or both ears, partial or complete, arising in, during the course of, or as the result of one's employment. It can occur suddenly as the result of one's employment. It can occur suddenly as the result of a traumatic injury, intense blasts or explosions, or gradually due to prolonged exposure to excessive noise levels. Hearing losses resulting from blows, blasts, or explosions, as well as from foreign objects and burns, have usually been compensated under schedule of accidental injuries. Industrial noise hearing loss is the accumulative loss of …

Relation Of Trauma, Disease, And Law - Panel Discussion, Joseph A. Cox, Alfred Koerner, S. Charles Franco, Kenneth H. Macgregor

Cleveland State Law Review

A symposium on "Relation of Trama, Disease, and Law." The symposium took place under the auspices of the Amerian Board of Legal Medicine Inc., in conjucntion with the sesquicentennial meeting of the Medical Society of the State of New York.

Premenstrual Tension, Medicine And Law, Irwin N. Perr

Cleveland State Law Review

The premenstrual tension syndrome is one characterized by emotional and physiologic symptoms occurring in the period preceding menstruation. A medical re-evaluation and description for the attorney may serve to clarify a subject full of misunderstandings, superstitions and false concepts.

Occupational Dermatitis And Dermatitis From Cosmetics And Fabrics - Medico-Legal Aspects, Louis Schwartz

Cleveland State Law Review

Diseases of the skin are the most frequent of all occupational diseases. They constitute about two-thirds of all occupational diseases reported to compensation boards. This follows logically from the fact that the skin is the largest and most external organ of the body and hence has the most contact with environmental irritant and toxic substances. According to government statistics, it has been estimated that the monetary loss per year from occupational skin diseases is more than 100 million dollars. members of the legal profession having clients, either claimants or defendants, in cases involving compensation should have some basic knowledge of …

Diagnosis And Treatment Of The Modern Backache, A. W. Humphries, C. E. Wasmuth

Cleveland State Law Review

There are two reasonably clear-cut forms of backache that lend themselves to a reasonably straight-forward form of treatment. These are (1) the ruptured intervertebral disc and (2) the degenerated intervertebral disc. In both instances, once a diagnosis can be reasonably made, treatment is at first conservative, and this form of treatment frequently issuccessful. In the absence of success, an operative procedure is available which offers reasonable hope of correction of the difficulty.

Standards Of Care In Anesthesiology, Carl E. Wasmuth

Cleveland State Law Review

Diplomates of the American Board of Anesthesiology must meet the rigid requirements of this specialty. Anesthesiologists in all sections of the country must meet the same requirements. Hence, the anesthesiologist in a small town is as well qualified as the anesthesiologist practicing in a large city. With this basic premise in mind, it is not difficult, therefore, to set down the medical standards of care in anesthesiology - which in turn determine the legal standards of care in this specialty.

Non-Penetrating Wounds Of The Chest, Harry W. Hale Jr., J. Walter Martin

Cleveland State Law Review

The heart may be seriously injured by compression of the chest by a steering wheel in automobile accidents or in other injuries by non-penetrating blows to the chest. These injuries vary from a simple bruise of the heart to actual laceration of heart muscle and heart valves. The changes may be identified by electrocardiograph and changes in heart rhythm. Attorneys should make certain that any injury by a blow to the chest is studied by a cardiologist, using not one but a series of electrocardiographs, as even seemingly harmless blows to the chest may result in injuries equivalent to heart …

Lethal Lesions In Aircraft Accidents, H. G. Mosely

Cleveland State Law Review

While most aircraft accident fatalities result from multiple lethal injuries, a significant number are caused by single identifiable lesions such as internal vascular tears (e.g., hemorrhage) especially in the brain area, which prompt surgical action may prevent from being fatal.Lawyers investigating such cases should ascertain whether or not medical treatment was prompt and skillful enough in the particular circumstances, and whether the particular injury (i.e., lesion) which actually caused death was identified and treated.

The Mallet Finger Injury, Donald R. Pratt

Cleveland State Law Review

Mallet finger is a permanent deformity caused by injury to the distal phalanx of a finger. Commonly seen in industrial accidents and in baseball players, the extending tendon is pulled off the bone of the terminal phalanx. Treatment consists of simple splinting (illustrated) in mild trauma, or surgical intervention when large bony fragments have been pulled off. If left untreated, some degree of drop finger ultimately develops. This disability varies in degree. Joint stiffness and deformity may result. A method of surgical treat- ment of more severe injuries is described.The chief importance of this injury, to the lawyer, is in …

A Cure For Doctor-Lawyer Frictions, Howard L. Oleck

Cleveland State Law Review

A committee of bar association "elder statesmen," from NACCA, cooperating with a like committee from the major insurance lawyers association, should approach the American Medical Association and suggest appointment of a national committee of doctors and lawyers, to establish mutually approved policies and procedures. Failing action by the most affected personal-injury bar associations, the American Bar Association might be the logical moving force. It already has recommended (in1957) the adoption of the impartial medical expert system used in New York City and Baltimore; but has not managed to effectuate the idea. Either way, the plans for establishing principles of participation …

The Medical Witness (Film Review), William J. Curran

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Film Reviews, Ben F. Small, Kate Wallach

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Artificial Insemination: Its Place In Washington Law, David Wayne Gittinger

Washington Law Review

Artificial insemination has found its place, or at least its beginning, in American society. It has not yet found its niche in American law. This comment is an attempt to indicate and speculate just what that niche would be under the present cases, statutes, and policies of the Washington court and legislature.

Malpractice And The Statute Of Limitations

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Medical Witnesses In Workmen's Compensation, Ivan C. Rutledge

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law--Substantive Due Process And Equal Protection--Naturopaths Required To Be Medical Doctors, C. R. S.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Torts - Unauthorized Autopsy - Non-Survival Of Action, Lee H. Snyder

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's husband was struck and killed by a motorbus owned and operated by defendant municipality. The body was removed to a hospital maintained by defendant. Subsequently, at the request and direction of a physician employed by defendant, an autopsy was performed, apparently to determine whether the deceased had been drinking. During the examination certain organs were removed and destroyed. Plaintiff brought an action for damages on the ground that the mutilation was done without her consent and in violation of her legal right to the possession of the body. Plaintiff died while the action was pending, and her administrator continued …

Medical-Legal Relations - The Brighter Side, C. Joseph Stetler

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Book Review, Arthur F. Lustig

Cleveland State Law Review

Reviewing Roscoe L. Barrow and Howard D. Fabing, Epislepsy and the Law, A Proposal for Legal Reform in the Light of Medical Progress, Hoeber-Harper, 1956

Whiplash - Defense Counsel's View, Harley J. Mcneal

Cleveland State Law Review

Many words have been spoken and written on the controversial subject of whiplash injuries of the cervical spine. However, no papers have been noted which discuss the problem from the viewpoint of the defense trial attorney. From a defense standpoint, some of the medical phrases or words used by doctors today have devastating psychological effects upon jurors trying personal injury cases. The word "whiplash" is one of these "coined" words. Thus, while it is conceded that medical men are only trying to define particular injuries with preciseness, the constant use and repetition of such words or terms cause the average …

Preparation And Trial Of A Medical Malpratice Case, John J. Kennett

Cleveland State Law Review

Law implies from the employment of a doctor contract that the doctor will diagnose and treat his patient with that degree of skill and learning which is possessed by the average member of his profession in the community in which he practices. A doctor licensed to practice is presumed to possess such skill and learning. He does not incur liability for his mistakes if he has used methods, in his diagnosis and treatment, recognized and approved by the average member of the medical profession practicing in his community. A doctor's negligence in departing from the standard of practice in his …