Medical Jurisprudence Commons^™

Privileged Communications Between The Doctor And His Patient--An Anomaly Of The Law, Thomas H. S. Curd

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

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 …

Contract For The Benefit Of Third Persons--Liability Of Insurer On Malpractice Policy To Injured Party, H. G. W.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

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 …

Physicians' And Hospitals' Liens On Tort Claims For Services Rendered Injurred Party, Anon

Washington Law Review

The 1937 session of the Washington Legislature added the medical and allied services to the selective groups whose compensation is protected in part by statutory liens. Chapter 69 of the laws of that session awards a lien to operators of hospitals, licensed nurses, practitioners, physicians and surgeons rendering service "for any person who has received a traumatic injury." The lien is upon "any claim, right of action and/or money to which such person is entitled against any tort feasor and/or insurer of such tort feasor". The amount of the lien is the "value" of the services, plus costs and such …

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 …

Are Physicians Exempt From Testifying?, William S. John

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Law Of Medical Malpractice In West Virginia, Hale J. Posten

West Virginia Law Review

A phase of the field of civil law which seldom comes within the experience of the average practitioner concerns itself with the negligence of physicians and surgeons in the practice of their profession, which is classified under the broad general term of malpractice. As the practice of medicine in its various branches tends to become a business rather than a personal relation, and the paternal position of the family physician faces into the limbo of forgotten things, it is likely that actions against doctors for their acts of negligence in the exercise of their art will become more, rather than …

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.

Injunctions--Restraining Unlicensed Practice Of Medicine, Richard F. Currence

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Negligence-Physician And Surgeon-Expert Testimony

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Possibilities And Need For The Development Of Legal Medicine In The United States, Andrew H. Woods M.D.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Insane Persons--Receivers, Donald F. Black

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

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).

Waiver Of Patient's Privileges, De Wolfe Emory

Washington Law Review

It is the purpose here to discuss the circumstances under which a patient is deemed to have waived the privilege veiling commumcations made to his physician, paying more particular attention to the law on that subject as it now exists in this state, in an attempt to arrive at the every-day and practical effect of the claim of privilege upon the ascertainment of truth in the court room.

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 …

Tort--Physician's Liability For Abandoning Patient, Harriet L. French

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Privileged Communications, Joseph O'Meara

Journal Articles

This article evaluates dicta from Wills v. National Life & Accident Co.regarding an implied waiver for privileged communications between a patient and his physician. It looks at the historical background of privileged communications and the writings of several legal scholars to determine whether for life insurance policies that require one to be "of sound health" there is an implied waiver of privileged communications. The author concluded that based on the rules of construction courts should follow the dicta because it is sound and reasonable policy.

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 …

Agency In Malpractice Cases: Funk V. Bohnam, Walter E. Treanor

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Charities--Charitable Hospital--Liability For Torts To Patients, C. M. L. Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

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 …