Torts Commons^™

Consent To Surgical Procedures, Carl E. Wasmuth

Cleveland State Law Review

Case law relating to surgical consent is fairly well settled. A review of the numerous decisions on this question can be summed up with a general statement: If the patient freely consults the physician, understands the operation contemplated, enters the hospital, and submits to the operation, consent is implied. This consent to a surgical operation is a privilege that the patient extends to the surgeon to commit trespass to the person.

Hospital Immunity, Ellis B. Brannon

Cleveland State Law Review

An archaic rule has been modified in Ohio by the Supreme Court decision in Avellone v. St. John's Hospital. However, this decision leaves open the question of whether the Ohio Supreme Court will apply the New York Rule to hospital liability in Ohio, or whether it will apply a less restrictive rule of liability to hospitals in this State. Essentially, the question is whether the hospital will be held responsible for all acts of negligence of its agents occurring within the physical confines of hospital premises, or whether it will be excluded from liability in those instances where the act …

Book Reviews, Dix W. Noel, E. M. Morgan, J. Olin White, Samuel E. Stumpf

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Reviews

Handbook of the Law of Torts, 2d ed. By William L. Prosser St.Paul: West Publishing Company, 1955. Pp. xii, 952. $10.00

reviewer: Dix W. Noel

================================

Impartial Medical Testimony A Report by a Special'Committee of The Association of the Bar of the City of New York New York: The Macmillan Company, 1956- Ppr. ix, 188: $3.95.

reviewer: E.M. Morgan

=================================

Modern Trials By Melvin M. Belli Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, Inc., Three Volumes, 1955. Pp. 2,763. $50.00.

reviewer: J. Olin White

=================================

Law and Morality By Leon Petrazycki (Translated by Hugh W.Babb with an Introduction by Nicholas S. Timasheff) Cambridge: …

Hospital Tort Liability, Aaron Jacobson

Cleveland State Law Review

Public Benefit Activities of a hospital, university or welfare agency have been looked upon with special favor by the law for many decades-a genuine kind of legalistic paternalism. They being institutions of beneficent motive, the policy of the judiciary has been to aid them through notable departures from the rules. Arguments to the contrary met a stone wall of "public policy." One such departure is exemplified in the immunity from liability for the tortious conduct of their employees that hospitals have enjoyed. Thus, a patient injured through negligence while in the care of a hospital often had no recourse, no …

Workmen's Compensation - Traumatic Neurosis Without Physical Injury, Irving L. Halpern

Michigan Law Review

Appellee and his co-worker attempted to lower a suspended scaffold on which they were standing, whereupon the scaffold gave way and the coworker fell to his death. Appellee suffered only slight bruises on his leg, but as a result of seeing his fellow employee fall to his death, he sustained severe fright and shock which resulted in a traumatic neurosis preventing him from engaging in the normal duties of his occupation. The lower court awarded appellee judgment for permanent partial disability under the Texas Workmen's Compensation Law. On appeal, held, reversed. Appellee's condition was a mental disease and compensable …

Torts - Liability Of Physician Erroneously Certifying Insanity, Richard Z. Rosenfeld

Michigan Law Review

A physician certified plaintiff to be insane, when in fact she was sane; she was thereafter committed to a state sanitarium. Upon her release, she sued the physician for negligence in examination. Defendant's demurrer for failure to state a cause of action was sustained. On appeal, held, affirmed. Quoting almost the entirety of an analogous 1900 decision from the same jurisdiction, the court held that defendant had owed no duty to plaintiff. Because the administration of the law "should not be obstructed by the fears of physicians that they may render themselves liable to suit," certifying physicians "should be …

Negligence-Liability Of Hospital For Suicide Of Patient, Richard Darger

Michigan Law Review

Decedent, a patient in the advanced stages of labor awaiting transfer from the labor room to the delivery room of defendant hospital, opened a window, unhooked the screen and jumped or fell to her death below. It was assumed by the court that death was caused by intrapartum psychosis, a condition which plaintiff claimed was recognized by the medical profession as a hazard of childbirth. Decedent had exhibited no unusual symptoms and had previously been through two normal pregnancies. The jury was allowed to find defendant negligent in not providing for constant attendance and in failing to bar the window …

Torts-Malpractice-Duty Of Drugless Healer To Refrain From Or Discontinue Treatment, Morton L. Simons

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, a drugless healer licensed under statute as a sanipractor, undertook to treat plaintiff for what both parties realized was diabetes. Defendant followed standard sanipractic procedure, prescribing diets and baths. The treatment was unsuccessful, and plaintiff's health deteriorated greatly. Apparently on the theory that a sanipractor incurs no liability if he follows the accepted methods of his school, the trial court, notwithstanding jury's verdict for plaintiff, rendered judgment for defendant. On appeal, held, reversed and remanded, with directions to enter judgment on the verdict Where a drugless healer knows or should know that his method of treatment is not …

Practice And Procedure-Third-Party Practice-Subrogation And Contribution- Right Of Defendant To Join Physician Who Aggravated Lnjuries, Richard B. Gushée S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A brought an action against B for injuries suffered in an automobile accident and aggravation of those injuries by the negligent treatment of a physician, D. B filed a third-party complaint against D for malpractice contending that D was liable over to him for all or a part of the judgment recovered by A. D's motion to dismiss the third-party complaint for want of a sufficient cause of action was denied. On appeal, held, affirmed. A tort-feasor who has been held liable for injuries is subrogated to any right of action which the injured party may …

Torts-Liability Of Charitable Hospital For Injuries To Patient Caused By Negligence Of Nurse And Intern. [New York]

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Torts-Right Of Child To Recover From Doctor For Injuries Received Before Birth As Result Of Negligent Treatment Of The Mother [Stemmer V. Kline, N. J. 1940]

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

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; …

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.

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.

Negligence-Physician And Surgeon-Expert Testimony

Indiana Law Journal

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 …

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

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

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.

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 …

Emotional Disturbance As Legal Damage, Herbert F. Goodrich

Articles

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. Knight 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 …

Note And Comment, Harry B. Hutchins, Frank B. Fox, John E. Winner

Michigan Law Review

The Liability of a Physician for the Acts of His Partner; Municipal Taxation by Appointive Boards or Commissioners; The Right of a Married Woman to Recover for Personal Injuries; What is Corporate Action?;

Physicians And Surgeons, Harry B. Hutchins

Book Chapters

Professor Hutchins's entry regarding the subject of the title. Includes voluminous cross-references and precedents. Begins with a five-page outline.

Note And Comment, Harry B. Hutchins, Ross F. Moore, John E. Winner

Michigan Law Review

The International Law Association and Its Last Meeting; The Extent to Which the Action of Medical Boards may be Controlled By Mandamus; The Effect Upon An Illegal marriage of Cohabitiation After the Removal of the Impediment;

Liability Of Hospitals For The Negligence Of Their Physicians And Nurses, Harry B. Hutchins

Articles

Liability of Hospitals for the Negligence of their Physicians and Nurses.-This question was recently examined by the Supreme Court of Utah in the case of Gitzhoffen v. Sisters of Holy Cross Hospital Association, 88 Pac. Rep. 691 (Jan. 26, 1907), and the opinion filed may well serve as a basis for comment. The hospital association was sued for damages for injuries that plaintiff claimed to have sustained through the negligence of defendant's nurses.