Reeves v. Lutz

162 S.W. 280, 179 Mo. App. 61, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 253
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 2, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 162 S.W. 280 (Reeves v. Lutz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reeves v. Lutz, 162 S.W. 280, 179 Mo. App. 61, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 253 (Mo. Ct. App. 1913).

Opinion

NORTONI, J.

These are cross-appeals. The suit is for damages accrued to plaintiff on account of the loss of service of his wife through the negligence of defendant while performing and in treating a surgical operation upon her. The petition proceeds in two counts. On the first count the finding and judgment were for defendant, while plaintiff prevailed on the second. Plaintiff prosecutes an appeal from the judgment against him on the first count, and defendant prosecutes an appeal from the judgment against him on the second count.

Defendant is a practicing physician and surgeon in St. Louis, and was employed as such to remove a cancer from the breast of plaintiff’s wife. It appears that, [70]*70for the purpose of the operation, plaintiff brought his wife from Jefferson City to St. Louis, and. placed her in the Josephine Hospital, under the care of defendant, December 13, 1910. The operation was performed there on that date, and Mrs. Reeves, the patient, was discharged by defendant about January 13, 1911. It appears that, in performing such an operation, it is the usual practice to place hot water bags about the patient, with a view of sustaining the circulation during the ordeal and thereafter. Then, too, after the operation is performed, it is a proper practice, where the wound is of considerable area, to place drainage tubes therein, for the purpose of emitting such secretions as accumulate and might otherwise retard or impede the healing process. At the time plaintiff’s wife was placed upon the operating table and while the anaesthetic was being administered, defendant personally placed a hot water bag against her limb, immediately above the ankle, and permitted it to remain there during the operation which ensued. The operation, which was an extensive one, in that the entire right breast of the patient, together with the glands under the arm, were removed, consumed about two hours. It appears that this hot water bag so placed inhered with, unusual heat, for it made a deep burn on the patient’s leg about three inches in breadth and five or six inches in length. The burn was. not discovered, however, by defendant until the following day, when his attention was directed to it by an assistant. Thereupon defendant immediately set about treating it, but it seems to have continued in a painful and threatening condition for several weeks after plaintiff’s wife returned to her home in Jefferson City on January 14th.

Plaintiff’s wife withstood the operation well enough, and no complaint is made with respect to the manner of its performance, save that pertaining to the placing of the hot water bag against her limb so as to inflict the burn above mentioned. However, complaint [71]*71is made with respect to the treatment of the wound resulting from the removal of the cancerous breast, in that it is said defendant carelessly omitted to remove one of the drainage tubes therefrom, and permitted the wound to heal over while such tube continued therein. There is evidence tending to prove that, on January 14, when plaintiff’s wife returned home to Jefferson City, the wound in the anterior portion of the breast was healed entirely, though it transpired afterwards that a drainage tube'was concealed therein, for it festered and created an abscess. After returning to her home, Mrs. Reeves suffered considerably from the effects of the burn on her limb, and on January 19 plaintiff called in Dr. P. B. Hiller to treat that injury. Dr. Hiller treated the burn for several weeks and in the interim the patient began to suffer as well from the effects of the concealed drainage tube in the wound in her breast. On March- 26, Dr. Hiller discovered a slight speck on the breast about the size of a split pea, it is said.

Though Dr. Hiller was called to treat the burn on the limb on January 19, it does not appear just when his attention was called to the trouble resulting from the concealed drainage tube in the wound in the breast. It appears that Dr. Hiller was the secretary of the State Board of Health, and, therefore, not in the active practice at Jefferson City. Because of this, he says he kept no books containing dates or records of his treatment. However, concerning the condition of the wound on the breast of plaintiff’s wife, the doctor testifies as follows: “At the time I saw her, the wound in her right breast as a result of the operation had healed, with the exception of the point of drainage in the rear under the arm and back of the arm and a point of apparent infection, or a sore spot to be plain, showed in the anterior incision. There was nothing protruding from the breast. There was nothing protruding from the posterior drainage. It had practically healed. [72]*72There was oozing of some serum andi consequent crusting. 1 continued to treat Mrs. Reeves’ breast and leg at intervals up until the 26th of March and a little later. I have forgotten the exact dates. I kept no> record of it. On the 26th of March I discovered a drainage tube in Mrs. Reeves’ breast; it was just showing at the wound, just visible, which I removed. I will say that prior to this visit on the 26th of March, I had not seen her for probably ten days, a week or ten days, I removed what we call a cigarette drain from her breast. ...” .

Here the doctor identified the drainage tube so» removed, which was introduced in evidence, and continued, saying: “This point, on the anterior or in front, simply showed as a little suppurating point apparently of infection, probably the size of a split pea.” Other evidence goes to the effect that Mrs. Reeves suffered great pain from both the bum and the concealed drainage tube in her breast until the tube was finally removed and for some days thereafter. Mr. Reeves, in speaking of the condition of his wife’s breast, immediately before the extraction of the drainage tube and thereafter, says: “This formation finally opened on the breast. It became an abscess — that is, an opening or a hole.” It should be said here, however, that another drainage tube had been inserted in the wound, designed to drain the posterior portion thereof under, the arm, and this was removed in due time. No complaint is» made in the case touching this matter, but it is mentioned in the evidence as revealing a small spot under the arm not yet healed when the patient returned home on January 14th and, indeed, for some time thereafter. This matter is referred to here merely for the purpose of obviating confusion and to the end of elucidating the particular drainage tube complained of, that is, the one inserted) by defendant in the anterior portion of the breast.

[73]*73Because of the severe burn on the limb and the concealed drainage tube, it appears plaintiff’s wife suffered great pain and agony and was wholly unable to perform the usual service of a housewife until about the time when this suit was filed, on April 24, 1911.

As before stated, the petition is in two counts. The first declares upon and seeks a recovery for the loss of services, companionship and society of plaintiff’s wife as a result of the burn inflicted upon her limb through the alleged negligence of defendant in placing an unusually hot water bag against it and thus inflicting the burn. The second count declares upon and seeks a recovery for the loss of services, companionship and society of plaintiff’s wife, occasioned through the alleged negligence of defendant in the treatment of the surgical wound, through omitting to remove therefrom the drainage tube in the anterior portion of the breast and permitting the wound to heal over the same.

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Bluebook (online)
162 S.W. 280, 179 Mo. App. 61, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 253, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reeves-v-lutz-moctapp-1913.