Williams v. Pomona Valley Hospital Ass'n (1913) · DecisionDepot

Williams v. Pomona Valley Hospital Ass'n

Name: California Superior Court Tentative Rulings
Creator: DecisionDepot
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

California Court of Appeal Feb 28, 1913 No. Civ. No. 1264.Published

Before: Allen

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Holding. The trial court erred by giving instructions that restricted the definition of negligence to the initial act of placing a hot-water bottle, thereby excluding the nurse's continuous duty to monitor the patient's condition and the effects of the remedy.

Issues

Whether the trial court's instructions improperly restricted the scope of the defendant's duty of care to the moment of applying the hot-water bottle.
Whether the complaint's allegation regarding the 'manner' of placing the hot-water bottle should be construed to include the nurse's ongoing duty of observation.

Disposition. reversed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“We think this was clearly error and so prejudicial in its nature as to warrant a reversal of the judgment and of the order denying a new trial.”

Synopsis

Negligence—Liability op Hospital pob Carelessness op Nurse in Applying Hot-Water Bottles.—It is the duty of a nurse, who applies hot water bottles to an unconscious patient, to observe their effect upon him as much as it is to test the temperature of the water in the first instance. The duty of the nurse is continuous, and an instruction in an action by the patient against the hospital for injuries from being burned by such bottles, which directs the jury to ignore all want of attention and observation on the part of the nurse after she has applied the bottles, is ground for a reversal of a judgment for the defendant.

ALLEN, P. J.

This action was one to recover on account of personal injuries occasioned by reason of alleged negligence on defendant’s part. The complaint alleges plaintiff’s entrance as a patient in defendant’s hospital; that while in said hospital and unconscious, a servant of defendant placed hot-water bags on or about plaintiff’s feet in such a careless and negligent manner that plaintiff’s feet were badly burned and scalded, from which he suffered damages. The answer admits the allegations of the complaint, other than the averment of negligence, the extent of the injuries claimed, and the expenditure the basis of special damages. The case was heard by a jury and resulted in a verdict for defendant and judgment accordingly, from which judgment, and an order denying a new trial, plaintiff appeals.

The errors assigned by appellant are numerous; the principal one, and the error which, to our minds, is most prominent, arises from the action of the court in giving the following instructions:

“XX. Plaintiff has confined his allegations of negligence and carelessness to the manner of the placing of the hot-water bag on or about plaintiff’s feet, and in order to find for the plaintiff, it must have been shown to you by a preponderance of the evidence in this case: First, that the hot-water bottle was placed on or about plaintiff’s feet in a careless and negligent manner; and, second, that the burns resulted from, and

[361]

were the direct and pr-oximate result of the manner of the placing of the hot-water bag or bottle.”

“XXI. Plaintiff, in his complaint, has not charged that any employee of the defendant was negligent or careless in placing at his feet a hot-water bag that was too hot or that would cause burns by reason of being too hot. The allegations of the complaint on which plaintiff must recover, if at all, being that the employees of defendant were negligent and careless in the manner of placing of the hot-water bag on or about plaintiff’s feet. If, therefore, you find from the evidence in this ease that the hot-water bottle in question was not placed at plaintiff’s feet in a careless or negligent manner, you must find for the defendant and render a verdict in favor of'the defendant in this case.”

Related research

which refers to the manner as having produced the injury should, under section 452 of the Code of Civil Procedure, be given such a liberal construction as would work substantial justice between the parties. To give it the construction adopted by the trial conrt, that the subsequent effect of the application in producing burns and scalds was not to be considered, eliminated, in our opinion, from the consideration of the jury one of the vital and principal" questions presented. The duty of a nurse, and assuming that a nurse must only exercise the ordinary care which a trained and skilled nurse would be required to use, is a continuous duty. Dealing as she was with an unconscious patient, unable to care for himsef, it was her duty to observe the effect upon the patient of the application of the remedy as much as it was to test its temperature in the first instance. The powers of resistance, the condition of the patient, must of necessity have much to do with the application of remedies, either by a physician or a nurse, and this duty could'only be observed by constant and unremitting care and attention, which is just as obligatory upon the nurse as is the duty of applying the remedy directed by the physician in charge. It is obvious from an examination of the record that the jury considered it their duty, under the charge of the court, to ignore all want of attention upon the part of the nurse, all continuous and subsequent observation and examination after she had applied the bottle, and we think that the language of the instructions would justify such a conclusion upon the part of the jury. There were instructions given relative to the degree of care which a nurse was required to exercise. These were in general terms, but when the court came to the concrete case of presenting to the jury the question of the care which the nurse should exercise, it sought to restrict that care and that attention to the moment of time when she was applying the remedy, and excluding all subsequent care and attention. We think this was clearly error and so prejudicial in its nature as to warrant a reversal of the judgment and of the order denying a new trial.

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Synopsis

ALLEN, P. J.

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