Davis v. Memorial Hospital

GIBSON, C. J.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment entered upon a jury verdict in favor of defendant, contending that the court committed prejudicial error in refusing instructions offered by plaintiff on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur.

On January 6, 1959, plaintiff entered defendant hospital for a varicose vein operation and was given a presurgical enema by a nurse, who inserted a rubber tube into his rectum. The hospital records do not show which of the nurses gave the enema, and none of those on duty at the time recalled doing so. Plaintiff testified that four attempts were made to insert the tube, that each time he felt a “cutting,” “scratching,” or “tearing” sensation which was painful, and that his rectum “kept stinging and burning” all night. The varicose vein operation was performed by Dr. James Charles without incident.

Plaintiff went home on January 8, and the next day he experienced great pain in his rectum and consulted Dr. Otho Wood. Plaintiff entered another hospital, and an examination revealed a perirectal abscess, which necessitated several weeks of treatment. Surgery was required later to close a fistula resulting from the abscess.

According to plaintiff, he had no anal pain before entering defendant hospital and had experienced no difficulty with his stools since he was a small boy. He had been given a prostatic massage by Dr. Charles about one week before entering the hospital. At that time his anal canal and rectum were in normal condition.

Dr. Wood testified that 90 per cent or more of all perirectal abscesses result from a bacterial infection, that the mucous membrane, which lines the rectum, prevents such infection, that so far as he knew the only way the infection in plaintiff’s rectum could have started would have been from a break in the mucous membrane, and that in his opinion the

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insertion of the enema tube caused the break. He stated that a properly given enema is not painful.

There was other expert testimony to the effect that the abscess was not caused by the insertion of an enema tube and that it was probably caused by the passage of a hard stool or the prostatic massage.