Moore v. Ivey

264 S.W. 283, 1924 Tex. App. LEXIS 620
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 9, 1924
DocketNo. 8521. [fn*]
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 264 S.W. 283 (Moore v. Ivey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moore v. Ivey, 264 S.W. 283, 1924 Tex. App. LEXIS 620 (Tex. Ct. App. 1924).

Opinion

*284 PANE, J.

This suit was brought by Ruby Carter Ivey, Joined pro forma by her husband, B. J. Ivey, against Dr. John T. Moore, to recover damages in the sum of $25,750.

The plaintiffs alleged:

That Dr. Moore had been by them employed to perform an operation upon the body of plaintiff, Mrs. Ruby Carter Ivey; “that as a part of said operation the defendant used certain gauzes and sponges, and after the defendant had made the incision and opened said plaintiff’s body, and as a part of'said operation, which defendant had agreed to skillfully perform, there were placed in plaintiff’s body certain pieces of gauze and sponge, commonly used by surgeons in performing such operations, and that the defendant was guilty of inexcusable negligence in the performance of said operation in failing to remove a piece of gauze or sponge so placed in said plaintiff’s body, as the result of which said plaintiff has suffered great pain of both body and mind, and a serious and' permanent impairment of her health, as more particularly hereinafter described; that the defendant was guilty of negligence in the performance of said operation, which was the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury, suffering, and impairment of health, and without which acts of negligence plaintiff would not have suffered, in the following particulars, to wit:
“(a) In leaving a piece of gauze or sponge, approximately 6 inches wide and 18 inches in length, in said plaintiff’s body when the wdund was closed.
“(b) In not using said gauze or sponge in a careful, prudent, and skillful manner.
“(c) In not removing said gauze or sponge from the body of plaintiff before closing said wound.
“(d) In closing up the wound in plaintiff’s body without removing said gauze or sponge from the body.”' ,

The defendant answered by general demurrer and general denial.

The cause was tried before a jury, who, in answer to special issues propounded to them, found:

(1) The defendant, in the operation done on Mrs. Ivey, did use and fail to remove a sponge or bit of gauze before closing the incision.
(2) The failure of the defendant to remove the sponge or bit of gauze used in said operation was negligence on his part.
(3) As a proximate result of such negligence plaintiff suffered injuries complained of.
(4) Her damages resulting from such negligence amount to $8,750.

Upon the verdict of the jury judgment was rendered in favor of Mrs. Ruby Carter Ivey against Dr. John T. Moore for the sum of $8,750. From such judgment Dr. Moore has appealed.

Appellant submits as reasons for. a reversal of the judgment substantially the following:

First. That the finding of the jury that appellant, Dr. Moore, in the operation done by him on Mrs. Ivey, did use and fail to remove a sponge or bit of gauze before closing the incision is so against the weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be clearly wrong, and should be by this court set aside.
Second. That, if it be conceded that Dr. Moore left the sponge in the body of Mrs. Ivey, as found by the jury, such fact alone is not sufficient to support a further finding that Dr. Moore was negligent in performing the operation, and that, as there, was no other evidence tending to show negligence on the part of Dr. Moore, the finding of the jury upon that issue should be set aside.
Third. That the finding of the jury that Dr. Moore left the sponge in the body of Mrs. Ivey was probably brought about by the misconduct of the jury in discussing matters not in evidence.
Fourth. That the judgment was excessive in amount, and that such excess was brought about by the misconduct of the jury in discussing matters not in evidence.

These complaints may, we think, be reduced to but three, to wit: First, that the finding of the jury that Dr. Moore left the sponge- or gauze in the body of Mrs. Ivey is so against the weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be clearly wrong, and therefore the same should be set aside and the judgment based thereon reversed; second, that the jury was guilty of misconduct, and that such misconduct probably brought about the finding that Dr. Moore left the sponge or gauze in the body of Mrs. Ivey; and, third, that such misconduct of the jury probably brought about an excessive award.

We shall consider these complaints in the order named.

It was shown that Mrs. Ivey gave birth to her first child in 1914, and that during the' two years intervening between the birth of her first child and the birth of her second child in 1916 her health got worse, and that she remained in ill health from that time up to June, 1920, at which time Dr. A. A. Nelson, of Nacogdoches, performed an operation upon her. This operation became necessary because of lacerations following the birth of her child,, which caused a displacement or what is commonly known as falling of the womb. In this operation her abdomen was opened and the womb was suspended, and at the same time her appendix was removed and a small cyst on one of her ovaries was punctured.- In the performance of this operation Dr. Nelson was assisted by Dr. Bar-ham and nurses at the Nacogdoches Hospital, where the operation was performed.

Mrs. Ivey testified that after the operation performed by Dr. Nelson in June, 1920, she remained in bed about twelve days, and in about two weeks thereafter she was able to be up, and around the house; that after she left the hospital and went home she began to gain strength and felt fine, better than *285 she had for a long time, and that within 3 months’ time she was feeling better than normal; that she felt unusually well, and that in.the third month after said operation by Dr. Nelson she released her servant and began to do her own housework, and continued to do so; that she did all of her cooking, housecleaning, and sewing, and also attended to her children; that she continued to do such work up to April, 1921; that in April, 1921, she had an attack of acute bladder trouble, and suffered intense pain in the bladder, which continued until she went to Houston in November, 1921, and was operated on by Dr. Moore; and this trouble was the cause of her going to Houston to see Dr. Moore; that she came to Houston to have a kidney operation performed by Dr. Moore; that Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
264 S.W. 283, 1924 Tex. App. LEXIS 620, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-ivey-texapp-1924.