Everts v. Worrell

197 P. 1043, 58 Utah 238, 1921 Utah LEXIS 29
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedApril 4, 1921
DocketNo. 3560
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 197 P. 1043 (Everts v. Worrell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Everts v. Worrell, 197 P. 1043, 58 Utah 238, 1921 Utah LEXIS 29 (Utah 1921).

Opinion

FBICK, J.

Plaintiff, a minor, by Ms guardian, commenced this action against the defendant, who is a duly licensed physician and surgeon, to recover damages for certain ailments or injuries which, plaintiff alleges, were caused through the negligence, carelessness, and unskillfuMess of the defendant in diagnosing and treating the plaintiff for a certain skin disease with which he had been afflicted since he was 13 years of age. The facts respecting the unskillful diagnosis and treatment are set forth with much particularity in the complaint.

The time when the alleged wrongful acts were committed [240]*240is alleged to have been in April and May, 1918, and this action was commenced in October, 1919. The defendant, in due time, filed an answer to the complaint in which, after admitting that he was a licensed physician and surgeon and that he had treated the plaintiff, denied all acts of negligence, carelessness, and tmskillfulness, and averred that he had carefully and properly diagnosed plaintiff’s ailment, and that he had carefully and properly treated him, etc. The defendant further averred—

“that whatsoever pain and suffering, if any, and whatsoever expense, if any, the plaintiff or his guardian has incurred or suffered, or may hereafter incur or suffer, and any and all paralysis and other disability suffered or sustained by the plaintiff, other than such as necessarily and naturally resulted or may result from the infections, diseases, or ailments with which said plaintiff was afflicted, were and are the result of, and directly contributed to by, the fault, carelessness, and negligence of said plaintiff and his guardian in failing, refusing, and' neglecting to carry out, take, or adopt the advice, instructions, and treatment ordered and recommended by the defendant for the same, and the same are not and were not the result of any fault or neglect, or any wrongful or improper treatment given or ordered by defendant, or any act or neglect whatsoever on the part of this defendant; and, further, denies each and every allegation in said complaint contained not specifically admitted.”

We have set forth the foregoing averments of defendant’s answer as they were stated to the jury in the c'ourt’s instructions for the reasons that will hereinafter more fully appear.

The case was tried to a jury, which found the issues in favor of the defendant and returned a verdict accordingly. Judgment having been duly entered on the verdict, and plaintiff’s motion to set the same aside and for a new trial having been overruled, he prosecutes this appeal from the judgment, and assigns numerous errors. Such as are deemed material we shall hereinafter consider in their order.

Briefly stated, the salient facts are: That in the month of April, 1918, the plaintiff, then being between 17 and 18 years of age, was afflicted with a disease called acne, an eruptive skin disease generally limited to the face and shoulders. The disease, it seems, is more or less common among young peo-[241]*241pie during tbe period of adolescence. The plaintiff, at the time aforesaid, was employed in Ogden as collector for a local daily newspaper, and in the course of his employment, during the month of April aforesaid, called at the defendant’s office to collect a small bill owing by the defendant to the newspaper. Plaintiff states that at the time he called the defendant’s attention to the condition of his face, and that the defendant informed him that he was afflicted with acne, and that the defendant could successfully treat the ailment. Plaintiff also says that the mode of treatment and the defendant’s fees were discussed, and that a time was fixed when plaintiff should receive his first treatment. Plaintiff,-at the time agreed upon, went to defendant’s office and received his first treatment. The first treatment consisted in injecting into the veins of plaintiff’s arm a preparation which all the parties agree was what, by the profession, is called neosalvar-san. Plaintiff did not notice any particular symptoms arising from the first treatment and continued to discharge his duties as he had been doing. In about 10 days after the first treatment, he, by arrangement, went to the defendant’s office for a second treatment, which was given in the same manner as the first one. The plaintiff, however, states that during the operation of injecting the fluid into the veins of his arm his heart began to throb; that he became sick, and “had shooting pains from head to foot,” and that he was very much affected; that the defendant told him to go into another room and lie down on a bed, which he did, and in an hour or so thereafter went home; that on arriving there he had severe headache and vomited and purged freely; that he felt some better the next day, but did not go to work; that on the day following he did not feel well, but on the third day felt somewhat better; that on the night of the third day, or, rather, on the morning of the fourth day, his body became paralyzed from the hips, or a little above the hips, downward, so that he was deprived of the use of his lower limbs and of his urinary organs and of his lower bowel, including the rectum; that is, he had lost the power of locomotion and the sense of feeling throughout the lower part of his body, [242]*242including the organs just referred to. The plaintiff also testified that the defendant made no examination of plaintiff’s body or organs before administering the preparation aforesaid, except an inspection of his face, while the defendant and his nurse testified that a thorough examination was made of plaintiff’s body and organs before the neosalvarsan was administered, as before stated. The plaintiff also stated that the defendant gave him no instructions with respect to the treatment or his conduct, while the defendant insists that he did instruct plaintiff with respect to what he should do. It further appears that the plaintiff informed the defendant that some of his coemployes at the newspaper office had intimated an unwillingness to continue working ivith him in the office by reason of the condition of his face, the pimples or postules upon which, it seems, had of late become somewhat more active than they had been. The manager of the paper spoke to the plaintiff about the matter, and informed him that under the circumstances he would have to quit work at the end of the month. The plaintiff, being desirous of continuing his work, spoke to the defendant about the matter, whereupon the defendant gave plaintiff the following certificate :

"Dr. R. E. Worrell, Physician and Surgeon,
Rooms 527-529, Eecles Building.
“Phones: Office 754. Res. 1726.
“Ogden, Utah, April 29, ’18.
“Ogden Examiner — Gentlemen:
“This is to certify that I have been taking care of Henry Everts, that he is suffering from acne, and is free from venereal diseases, and, as far as I can ascertain, has never been afflicted with gonorrhea or syphilis.
“Very respectfully,
R. E. Worrell.”

There is some conflict respecting the precise dates on which plaintiff received the two treatments. He produced a receipt which the defendant had issued as evidence of the first payment of $5 which plaintiff paid the defendant. The receipt is dated April 16, 1918. Plaintiff insists that he received the first treatment either on the date stated in the receipt or a [243]

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Bluebook (online)
197 P. 1043, 58 Utah 238, 1921 Utah LEXIS 29, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/everts-v-worrell-utah-1921.