McClenahan v. Howard

WOOD, P. J., pro tem.

Plaintiff sought by this action to recover a sum slightly in excess of eighteen hundred dollars for professional -services rendered by him as an alienist, to and for the defendant, and at her request. The trial judge found that on January 8, 1915, the plaintiff rendered medical services to the defendant of the reasonable value of forty-five dollars at a time when she was unconscious and in need of medical attention. The court found also that at other times between January 8 and April 21,1915, plaintiff rendered professional services as an expert alienist in examining and diagnosing her mental condition, for the purpose of advising her relatives of such condition, and for the further purpose of testifying as an expert witness in certain proceedings which were pending and which involved the question of her sanity and her mental competence.

The court further found that such services were not rendered at her instance or request or for her use and benefit, and were not necessary for her health, hut that they were rendered at the instance and request of her relatives, and for their use and benefit. A judgment was awarded to the plaintiff for the sum of forty-five dollars only, and

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the plaintiff here assails the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the findings, in denying him any further relief.

It appears from the record in the case that on January 6, 1915, the defendant’s brother met with a fatal injury, and on the following day she created some kind of disturbance at his bedside at a private sanatorium, in San Francisco, which resulted in her arrest upon a charge of insanity made by Mr. Morris, who was the attorney for her brother and certain members of the family. After being taken to the detention hospital, with the approval of the judge and her friends she was removed to a sanatorium devoted chiefly to the treatment of alcoholic cases. In some manner she there obtained and imbibed a large quantity of whisky, and early on the morning of January 8th the doctor in charge informed appellant over the telephone that one of the patients had drunk a large quantity of whisky and was in a precarious condition. Plaintiff went to the sanatorium immediately, and there remained, rendering assistance until nearly noon, and until the defendant was out of danger. It is for these services that the trial court awarded plaintiff the sum of forty-five dollars, and no objection is here made to such allowance.