MacCoy v. Gage

JAMES, J.

The plaintiff, a licensed physician and surgeon, brought this suit to recover the sum of one thousand dollars, alleged to be the reasonable value of professional services rendered by him to the defendant. Defendant filed a cross-complaint seeking to recover damages which he alleged he had sustained by reason of unskillful treatment which he had received at the hands of the plaintiff. The jury sitting in the case found for the plaintiff in the full amount prayed for in his complaint and against the defendant on his cross-complaint. Defendant has appealed from the judgment, relying upon various errors of law which he asserts were committed by the trial court in the course of the proceedings.

From the evidence, as set out in the bill of exceptions, it appears that the plaintiff, in May, 1910, was called upon to attend the defendant, whom he found suffering from a fracture of the upper portion of the upper leg bone, or, as it was phrased by the professional witnesses, a “fracture of the neck of the femur.” At his first visit the plaintiff adjusted the broken, part and applied a weight to the limb. A trained nurse was called to attend the case and the plaintiff continued his ministrations during several months and until the defendant was able to move about on crutches. It was shown that the patient later became able to walk, even without the aid of a cane, at least for short distances. The plaintiff made about eighty-five visits to the defendant. During the time he attended him he was called upon to prescribe for other conditions than the broken bone, to wit: Pneumonia and rheumatism. From all of the medical testimony, even that produced

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by the defendant, it appears that so far as the fracture was concerned, the results obtained by the plaintiff were better than the average. Under the evidence as presented, it is very clear, of course, that the matter of the value to be placed upon the services rendered by the plaintiff to the defendant was one exclusively for the jury. Counsel for appellant first complains of the ruling of the trial judge sustaining objections to certain questions asked by him upon cross-examination of plaintiff’s witnesses. Two witnesses for the plaintiff, Drs. Barton and Thorpe, were asked to state their opinion as to the value of the services rendered by the plaintiff. What these services had been were detailed in the questions. On cross-examination of the witness Barton, counsel for-appellant, assuming other matters not shown in evidence, inquired as to whether the witness would alter his opinion as to the value of the services. Objection was properly sustained to this question, for the facts assumed did not appear in evidence.