96 Neb. 648 | Neb. | 1914
Lead Opinion
This is an action to recover $40,000 for alleged negligence resulting in the death of Adolph F. Broz, a farmer who, with his wife and two children, had resided on a farm in Saline county. Plaintiff is the administratrix of his estate. The Omaha Maternity & General Hospital Association, defendant, is a corporation conducting at Omaha a hospital for private gain. Broz was a patient therein from April 18, 1910, until June 21, 1910, paying for his room and care $15 a week. In the petition it is alleged that Broz was knowingly admitted as a patient when suffering from a mental disorder which caused at times a delirious condition impelling him intermittently to leave his bed and otherwise to act irrationally; that while a patient of defendant he took poison, the result being fatal; that defendant was negligent in permitting him to remain for a long time unattended and unguarded in his room and in the hallways of the hospital, and in negligently leaving in an exposed and unguarded place the poison which he-took; that, after defendant was apprised that he had taken poison, it negligently failed to administer proper remedies and antidotes; that the facts pleadéd constitute a negligent omission of duty and a breach of defendant’s implied undertaking to furnish and supply him with all the care, nursing, medical treatment and oversight necessary, suitable and proper for him in view of his known physical and mental condition. In its answer defendant denied negligence, but admitted that Broz was affected with a mental disorder when taken to the hospital; that about midnight June 19, 1910, he was found in his room dangerously ill, and nurses then on duty were soon afterward apprised that he had taken poison; that he died June 21, 1910. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of plaintiff for $7,000. From a judgment for that sum defendant has appealed.
The first assignment of error is directed to the admission in evidence of standard tables of expectancy of life.. On this point defendant says: “As a matter of fact Broz,
As evidence, the effect of mortality tables, if any, is determinable by the triers of fact. City of Friend v. Ingersoll, 39 Neb. 717; City of South Omaha v. Sutliffe, 72 Neb. 746. Proof that the person whose. expectancy of life is under consideration conforms to the standards of health and vigor adopted in compiling mortality tables is not essential to their admissibility.
Evidence of disease or of ill health or of hazardous employment may impair or destroy the probative effect of tables of expectancy of life, but it does not make them inadmissible. Arkansas M. R. Co. v. Griffith, 63 Ark. 491; Greer v. Louisville & N. R. Co., 94 Ky. 169; Birmingham M. R. Co. v. Wilmer, 97 Ala. 165; Mary Lee Coal & R. Co. v. Chambliss, 97 Ala. 171; Coates v. Burlington, C. R.
Another assignment of error challenges the admissibility of statements by Broz that the poison was on a table in his room, and that he took it, thinking it was his medicine. Over objections of defendant, statements of this nature were proved by Dr. Mares. There is testimony tending to show: Dr. Mares Avas a brother-in-law of Broz. The poisoning was discovered before midnight. ' About 8 o’clock the next morning Dr. Mares was notified, and promptly went to the hospital. Upon his arrival he conversed Avith the head nurse. He testified: “I asked the head nurse what happened, and she told me that Mr. Broz took poison, and that it was bichloride of mercury. I asked her how could she tell it was bichloride of mercury, and she told me she could tell by the symptoms; and I asked her, ‘How did he get it?’ She told me to go in his room and ask how and where he got it and what it was.” Dr. Mares went to the room of the patient, interviewed him, and reported the conversation to the head nurse, who said: “That is what I thought.” The statements of Adolph F. Broz were thus reported by Dr. Mares In his own language, as follows: “When I came in the room I said, ‘Adolph, what did you do, and what did you do it for?’ and he said, ‘I did not do anything.’ He said, ‘I
The question is: Did the trial court err in admitting this testimony and other proof of a similar nature? It is argued that defendant is not bound by such statements; that Broz was under the care óf his own physician, and that the latter’s instructions were obeyed by the nurses and other employees of the hospital; that Broz, under specific directions of his physician, was allowed the freedom of his room and of the halls in the hospital; that bichloride of mercury was used in the hospital as an indispensable disinfectant, and that it was kept for that purpose in a sinkroom, where Broz found the tablets; that he took the poison with suicidal intent, there being at the time no. reason to suspect that he would do so. Defendant adduced proof in support of the positions thus taken. If,, however, the statements • of Broz were properly admitted,, there is evidence of negligence on the part of defendant. Intermittent mental infirmities of the patient were-pleaded in the petition and admitted in the answer. The-pleadings, evidence and circumstances justify a finding-that he was admitted , to the hospital under an implied obligation that he should receive such reasonable care and attention for his safety as his mental and physical condition required. The physician employed by him did not relieve the hospital of responsibilty for negligence on its. part, if any. The patient was under the personal obser
Even if no reply had been made by the head nurse to the statements tending to show negligence on the part of defendant’s employees, silence might be considered an admission, under the circumstances, since the head nurse would naturally deny statements implying negligence, if untrue. 16 Cyc. 956. Defendant is a corporation and -could only act through officers, agents or servants, and it is bound by what they do in the performance of their ■duties. Where a hospital patient takes poison at night in the absence of his physician and friends, while he is under the exclusive care of nurses and internes, harsh and technical rules of evidence should not be enforced to -exclude proper testimony tending to throw some light on material facts which, on account of the pecuniary interests and the reputation of the hospital, there might be a temptation to conceal. The conclusion is that there was no error in overruling objections to the admissions or decía-.' rations proved.
It is further contended that there was no evidence of negligence on the part of defendant in treating the patient after he had taken the poison, and that the trial court erroneously submitted the question to the jury. At night, during the absence of the patient’s physician, it was clearly the duty of the hospital interne, who was a physician, and the nurses in charge, to give such treatment and attention as the emergency demanded, when known. Defendant was prepared for such an exigency. One of the purposes of a hospital in assuming control of a patient, for private gain, Is to furnish promptly modern equipment, facilities and treatment. To avail himself of these advantages the patient left his farm in Saline county and entrusted himself to the care of defendant. The duties which such a hospital owes to a patient are commensurate with the responsibilities assumed. The approved rule is that a pa
Another reason urged as a ground for reversal is the absence of evidence that Broz would have recovered, with an earning capacity justifying the verdict. A mere fitful or temporary mental disorder' will not be presumed to continue. Turner v. Rusk, 53 Md. 65; People v. Francis, 38 Cal. 183; Hall v. Unger, 2 Abb. (U. S.) 507; Leache v. State, 22 Tex. App. 279; Ford v. State, 71 Ala. 385. In the present case there is proof tending to show that the mental disorder was temporary and that the patient would have recovered, had he not taken poison. An earning capacity sufficient to support the judgment is also shown. On these issues the credibility of the witnesses and the weight of the evidence were questions for the jury, and in the respects mentioned no sufficient reason for setting aside the verdict has been suggested.
A direction to the jury submitting the question of negligence on the part of defendant in leaving Broz unattended in his room and in the halls is criticized as erroneous. In this connection it is insisted that the physician employed by Broz instructed defendant to allow him the freedom of his room and the halls, that employees of defendant did so, and that it is not chargeable with negligence for complying with instructions. The directions of the physician should be considered with the duty of the-
The views taken in regard to the proofs and to the law applicable thereto result in the conclusion that there was. no prejudicial error in giving or in refusing instructions, to the jury.
Affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
The facts of this case are in some respects identical' with those in Wetzel v. Omaha Maternity & General Hospital Ass’n, ante, p. 636. This defendant was also defendant in that case, and it appears that it was organized to own and conduct a hospital for profit, and that the hospital is not an eleemosynary or charitable institution and is liable for negligence in the performance of duties undertaken by it.
The court submitted the case to the jury with the following instruction: “The plaintiff bases her right to recover in this action upon two specifications of negligence on the part of the defendant: (1) That the defendant was negligent in permitting Adolph F. Broz to remain for a long time unattended and unguarded in his room, and in the hallways of the hospital, and in negligently leaving in an exposed and unguarded place the poison which Adolph F. Broz took. (2) That after the employees and agents of the defendant were apprised that Adolph F. Broz had taken poison, it negligently failed to administer proper remedies and antidotes for the relief of said Adolph F. Broz.” The issues so stated were substantially the issues tried by the parties.
There was substantial evidence that the deceased had gone to this sinkroom and had taken this bichloride of' mercury for the purpose of taking his own life. The next morning, about nine hours afterwards, Dr. Mares visited the patient in his room, and upon the witness-stand he was asked: “Now, doctor, you* may state what Adolph Broz said to you in that room that morning?” This was objected to on the ground that it was incompetent and
It will be observed that the declarations testified to by the witness in the case at bar related wholly to the cause of his injury, the taking of the poison, and not to the consequences of the injury. They were made, not almost contemporaneously with the cause to which they related, but some nine hours thereafter. He was asked by his brother-in-law: “What did you do, and what did you do it for?”' He had had ample time to consider his 'action, and had suffered very much from its consequences. He knew that his brother-in-law would disapprove of his taking poison purposely. His answer tended to shield himself from blame, and was in no sense contemporaneous with the act
The plaintiff first saw her husband after the accident about 4 o’clock the following afternoon. She testified that when she went into the room the nurse was treating Broz, and that she asked the nurse what her husband took, a¿d the nurse said, “He took some poison pills,” and that while she was in the room the nurse was there. “He (Broz) was pointing to the table, and he said: ‘I took them on that table, on the little tray, I thought they were my medicine ;’ ” that the nurse told her to ask him and she asked him, and that his statement was an answer to her question, and that after her husband had made that statement the nurse did not say a thing. It seems clear that this ■evidence was not admissible as part of the res gestee.
It is said that this evidence was competent as admissions of the nurses which would be binding upon the defendant. The physician testified that he was requested by the head nurse of the hospital to ask these questions of the patient, and that he reported to the nurse what the patient had said, and that the nurse replied: “That is what I thought.” If we consider that the doctor’s evidence in regard to these declarations was competent as proving admissions on the part of the hospital authorities, the supposed admission of the nnrse was so indefinite as to be -of little value. Her expression, “That is what I thought,” might have related to the fact of his having taken poison, or it might have related to the manner of his taking it, as shown by the alleged declaration. Such evidence is not of sufficient importance to overcome the evidence on this point which is further stated in the discussion of the following contention. The contention that these tablets were found on the table in the patient’s room should not have been submitted to the jury.
Miss MacRea testified that she and Miss .Thimling were in the hall not far from the patient’s room, and when she heard the moaning and vomiting in the patient’s room she went there immediately and found him upon the floor, etc., and called his nurse, Miss Thimling, who came at once. They together returned the patient to his bed, and Miss MacRea questioned him as to the cause of his condition, and he told her that he had taken tablets from the sinkroom. She ran to the sinkroom and obtained some of the bichloride tablets and 'showed them to the patient, and asked him if that was what he took, and he answered that it was; that he knew he never would get well, and that he didn’t want to live any longer, and that was the reason he took the tablets. She then ran immediately to the head nurse and to Dr. Parsons, the interne. She says this was done instantly and didn’t take her more than a minute, and they told her to give him some milk ánd the whites of eggs, and she and Miss Thimling gave him the milk and whites of eggs before Dr. Parsons arrived, which was almost immediately, and that then, under Dr. Parsons’ directions and with his help, they gave him a large quantity of milk and at least three whites of eggs. The witness called Dr. Coulter and informed him of the condition and what they had done. He gave them some additional directions which they proceeded to comply with.
Dr. Parsons also testified that when he was called by Miss RacRea he went at once to the patient’s room, and he corroborates her fully in regard to the treatment and in
If these witnesses are to be believed, Mr, Broz procured these tablets from the sinkroom. It was not discovered that he had taken poison until it had already taken effect ■and he was suffering severely therefrom. Then the nurses placed him upon the bed and got their instructions from the head nurse and Dr. Parsons and administered the proper antidotes without any delay. The proper treatment must have been administered within a very few minutes, not more than three or four, probably within two minutes after he was found. This evidence is without contradiction. The allegation of negligence in the care of the patient after the poison was taken is not supported by the •evidence and should not have been submitted to the jury.
The evidence of the plaintiff and the witness Mares as to declarations of the deceased were incompetent, and the •allegations of negligence in leaving the poison tablets in the patient’s room and in neglecting proper remedies after it was discovered that he had taken poison were not sustained, and those issues should not have been submitted to the jury.