64 So. 459 | Miss. | 1914
delivered the opinion of the court.
Matthew Richardson, aged about nineteen years, seriously ill with a fever, was taken by appellant, his father, for treatment tó the private sanitarium owned and
It has been decided that the owner or proprietor of a private hospital or sanitarium, operated for profit, which is not charitable, is liable in damages for the negligence of his employees. Stanley v. Schumpert, 117 La. 255, 41 So. 565, 6 L. R. A. (N. S.), 306, 116 Am. St. Rep. 202, 8 Ann. Cas. 1044; Galesburg Sanitarium v. Jacobson, 103 Ill. App. 26; Brown v. La Société Francaise, etc., 138 Cal. 475, 71 Pac. 516; Ward v. St. Vincent’s Hospital, 39 App. Div. 624, 57 N. Y. Supp. 784. This rule rests upon the general doctrine that a master is responsible for the torts of his servant in the scope of his employment.
The court erred in not submitting this case to the jury. Matthew Richardson, the patient, was under the control
Our attention has been called by counsel for appellee in his brief to the failure of appellant to amend his declaration by inserting the word “ caused” in the place of the words “contributed to.” It does not appear from the record that this change was actually made in the declaration. ¥e do not see, however, that this can be of any avail in this appeal to appellee. We quote the following from the bill of exceptions: “Thereupon the plaintiff asked leave of the court to amend his declaration by inserting the word ‘caused,’ instead of the words ‘contributed to,’ in the sixth paragraph of declaration, and the court stated that the amendment might be made, but nevertheless the motion would be sustained, and thereupon the court sustained the motion.” The court treated the declaration as if amended. The request for leave to amend, the permission, and the sustaining of the motion directing a verdict for appellee were all considered and acted on together, and together became the same and one continuous act.
Reversed and remanded.