Bailey v. McGill, 175

• Decision Date: 11 December 1957
• Docket Number: No. 175,175
• Citation: 100 S.E.2d 860,247 N.C. 286
• Parties: William J. BAILEY v. Dr. John C. McGILL, Dr. Kenneth H. McGill, Dr. Thomas H. Wright, Jr.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 860

100 S.E.2d 860

247 N.C. 286

William J. BAILEY v. Dr. John C. McGILL, Dr. Kenneth H. McGill, Dr. Thomas H. Wright, Jr.

No. 175

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Dec. 11, 1957

Parker Whedon, Kenneth R. Downs, Charlotte, and Hugh A. Wells, Shelby, for plaintiff, appellant.

Falls & Falls and Kennedy, Mahoney & Mull, Shelby, for Dr. John C. McGill, defendant, appellee.

Carpenter & Webb, Charlotte, for Dr. Kenneth H. McGill, defendant, appellee.

Robinson, Jones & Hewson, Charlotte, for Dr. Thomas H. Wright, Jr., defendant, appellee.

PARKER, Justice.

As the defendants' demurrer ore tenus challenges plaintiff's complaint on the ground that it does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, it is necessary to summarize its essential allegations, which are as follows:

Plaintiff is a citizen and resident of Cleveland County, North Carolina. Dr. John C. McGill and Dr. Kenneth H. McGill are, and were at the times complained of, practicing physicians in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Dr. Thomas H. Wright, Jr., is, and was at the times complained of, a practicing psychiatrist in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Prior to 15 October 1954, plaintiff, as a patient of Dr. John C. McGill, had been confined in a hospital in Kings Mountain. While there Dr. John C. McGill administered, or instructed others to administer, to plaintiff large doses of a pain-killing drug, the direct effect of which was to keep him in an unconscious condition for long periods of time.

Before 15 October 1954 Dr. John C. McGill had various conversations and conferences with plaintiff's parents, and, by virtue of his position as a physician, through these conversations and conferences, influenced, persuaded and caused plaintiff's parents to execute and file an affidavit with the Clerk of the Superior Court of Cleveland County, North Carolina, stating in substance that their son was suffering from some purported mental disorder, and was in need of observation and admission to the State Hospital for the Insane. The parents of plaintiff in executing this affidavit acted not only by reason of the influence of Dr. John C. McGill, but also in complete reliance on his representation to them that their son was insane. Dr. John C. McGill, in advising and influencing plaintiff's parents to execute and file this affidavit, acted solely through ill will and malice toward plaintiff growing out of his anxiety to rid himself of plaintiff as a patient, because he knew plaintiff was suffering from an incurable case of hemophilia, and did not respond to his treatment.

At the request, advice and recommendation of Dr. John C. McGill, the Clerk of the Superior Court of Cleveland County, North Carolina, pursuant to G.S. § 122-43, directed Doctors Kenneth H. McGill and Thomas H. Wright, Jr., to make an examination of plaintiff's mental condition.

Dr. John C. McGill, acting through ill will and malice toward the plaintiff, and using his influence as a brother physician, influenced and caused Dr. Kenneth H. McGill, his brother, and Dr. Thomas H. Wright, Jr., to make and execute the necessary affidavit required by statute for committing plaintiff to the State Hospial for the Insane, without making the examination required by G.S. § 122-43. Or, if any examination was made by either Dr. Kenneth H. McGill or Dr. Thomas H. Wright, Jr., it was by reason of the influence of Dr. John C. McGill, such a hasty and superficial examination as to be totally inadequate, and not a real or bona fide examination as required by G.S. § 122-43.

Subsequent to the order or direction of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Cleveland County, Dr. Kenneth H. McGill wholly neglected and failed to make any mental examination of plaintiff, as required by the Clerk's order and the laws of the State, but simply signed and executed the affidavit. Or, if he made any mental examination of plaintiff at any time, it was so superficial, hurried and improper as to be totally inadequate, and not a real or bona fide examination as required by G.S. § 122-43.

On or about 15 October 1954 plaintiff was carried by ambulance to Charlotte Memorial Hospital for examination by Dr. Thomas H. Wright, Jr., pursuant to the order of the aforesaid Clerk. Upon arrival plaintiff was carried on a stretcher into a hallway of the hospital near the emergency room. Dr. Wright appeared, and, knowing plaintiff was in a drugged and semi-conscious condition, made an examination of him, which was so superficial, hasty and improper as to be totally inadequate, and not a real or bona fide examination, as required by G.S. § 122-43. The examination consisted entirely of asking plaintiff in his drugged condition a few simple questions, and lasted about five minutes.

Plaintiff was then carried back to Kings Mountain, and for the following two or three days was, under the direction of Dr. John C. McGill, kept in a drugged condition in a hospital there.

About 18 October 1954 plaintiff was carried to Morganton, North Carolina, and there admitted to the State Hospital for the Insane. Plaintiff was not insane, or in need of mental treatment or observation, and has never been in his life in such condition. He was not laboring under hallucinations at any time, nor was he in such condition as to require confinement or restraint to prevent self-injury or violence to others. About 17 November 1954 he was discharged from this hospital, as being a person who was not insane, or in need of mental treatment at the time of his commitment.

Solely by reason of the wrongful conduct of the defendants, plaintiff was wrongfully committed to the State Hospital for the Insane, where he was forced to stay for 30 days or more.

Because of the wrongful conduct of the defendants, and his wrongful commitment to the State Hospital for the Insane, plaintiff has been wronged and damaged by defendants, in that he has been falsely imprisoned for 30 days, suffered the scorn and ridicule of his neighbors and other people in the community where he resides, to whom he has become known as a mental case, and has endured extreme mental anguish and suffering and loss of earnings.

Wherefore, plaintiff prays that he recover $100,000 compensatory damages jointly and severally from all the defendants, and $50,000 punitive damages from Dr. John C. McGill.

This case came on for trial. After the jury was duly selected, sworn and impaneled, and the pleadings read, the court requested plaintiff's attorneys to prepare the issues which they contended arose upon the pleadings. Plaintiff, through his counsel, tendered eleven issues. Upon a discussion of the tendered issues, plaintiff's counsel stated in open court that they did not rely upon a cause of action for malicious prosecution, or for abuse of process, or false imprisonment. Whereupon, the defendants, and each of them, demurred ore tenus to the complaint on the ground that, aside from a cause of action for malicious prosecution, no cause of action is stated in the complaint. The demurrer ore tenus was sustained, and judgment was entered to that effect. The above statement appears in the case on appeal, and also in plaintiff's brief.

Plaintiff says in his brief that he 'has stated a cause of action for a false certificate of insanity made by two of the defendants, and conspired in by the other, and the plaintiff has also stated a cause of action (upon) a certificate of insanity negligently made without proper and ordinary care and prudence, and without due examination and inquiry and proof.' Plaintiff also says in his brief that 'a physician is liable for a certificate of insanity which is false, or a certificate of insanity that was negligently made by said physician without proper and ordinary care and purdence, and without due examination, inquiry and proof of the facts whether plaintiff was sane or insane.'

On a demurrer to the complaint, we take the case as made by the complaint. It is familiar learning that the office of a demurrer is to test the sufficiency of a pleading, admitting for the purpose, the truth of factual averments well stated and such relevant inferences as may be deduced there-from, but it does not admit any legal inferences or conclusions of law asserted by the pleader. McKinney v. City of High Point, 237 N.C. 66, 74 S.E.2d 440. It is also common knowledge to the bench and bar that the court is required on a demurrer to construe the complaint liberally with a view to substantial justice between the parties, and every reasonable intendment is to be made in favor of the pleader. G.S. § 1-151; Barber v. Wooten, 234 N.C. 107, 66 S.E.2d 690; Cathey v. Southeastern Construction Co., 218 N.C. 525, 11 S.E.2d 571; Joyner v. P. L. Woodard & Co., 201 N.C. 315, 160 S.E. 288.

G.S. § 122-43 reads as follows:

'When an affidavit and request for examination of an alleged mentally disordered person has been made, or when the clerk of the superior court has other valid knowledge of the facts of the case to cause an examination to be made, he shall direct two physicians duly licensed to practice medicine by the State and not holding any office or appointment except advisory or consultative in the hospital to which commitment may be made, to examine the alleged mentally disordered person or shall have him brought to them in order to determine if a state of mental disorder exists and if it warrants commitment to one of the State hospitals or institutions for the mentally disordered. If the said physicians are satisfied that the alleged mentally disordered person should be committed for observation and admission into a hospital for the mentally disordered, they shall sign an affidavit to that effect on a form approved by the North Carolina Hospitals Board of Control.'

G.S. § 122-46 provides:

'When the two physicians shall have certified that the alleged mentally disordered person is in need of observation and admission in a hospital for the mentally disordered, the clerk shall hold an informal...