Baker v. Hancock
| Decision Date | 19 March 1902 |
| Docket Number | 4,054 |
| Citation | 63 N.E. 323,29 Ind.App. 456 |
| Parties | BAKER v. HANCOCK |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Rehearing denied May 23, 1902, Reported at: 29 Ind.App. 456 at 462.
Transfer denied June 25, 1902.
From Washington Circuit Court; D. M. Alspaugh, Judge.
Action by Henry W. Baker against George S. Hancock for malpractice. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiff appeals.
Reversed.
A Elliott and M. B. Hottel, for appellant.
J. C. Lawler and F. M. Hostetter, for appellee.
The complaint was in four paragraphs. In the amended first paragraph it was averred that the appellee was, in March, 1897, engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Campbellsburg, Washington county, Indiana; that appellant was suffering from an ailment of the nose which he supposed to be nasal catarrh, and went to appellee for treatment; that appellee negligently examined appellant's nose and told him that he had cancer of the nose and advised him to have it treated at once, to which appellant consented; that appellee proceeded to treat the same, and negligently applied some local application to the plaintiff's nose, by and on account of which the end of his nose was eaten off; that he in truth never had cancer of the nose at all, and that his disfigured condition is the direct result of appellee's negligence and want of skill, on account of which he was damaged, etc., without fault on his part. The second paragraph of complaint differs from the amended first paragraph, in that it is therein averred that appellee held himself out to the public, by advertisement and otherwise, as a specialist in the treatment of cancer, and made the application to appellant's nose for the treatment of cancer. The third paragraph differs from the amended first paragraph only in averring that the local application referred to was for the treatment of cancer, and the fourth paragraph corresponds in substance with the second.
The issue was formed by a denial. Appellant bases his claim in each paragraph upon the loss of part of his nose, which he says was caused by the negligent use of a local application by the appellee. It is tacitly admitted in the complaint, and expressly conceded in appellant's brief, that if the diagnosis of cancer was correct the charge of negligence in making the application, and the result thereof, fails. The question of liability therefore is restricted to very narrow limits. To make it out the appellant produced evidence tending to show that he had no cancer; while the defense is based upon the testimony of appellee and others to show that he did have cancer of the nose.
No charge of unskillfulness or lack of education is made in the complaint. It proceeds upon the hypothesis that the appellee did not exercise that degree of skill required in his profession. There is a recital in two of the paragraphs to the effect that appellant's injury was caused by the carelessness, negligence, and lack of skill and knowledge of the appellee. Such recital is not equivalent to, and does not amount to, an averment of incapacity. It has relation to the preceding averments. Whether or not appellee negligently failed to diagnose the disease, and so failing negligently made a local application, because of which appellant's nose was eaten off, is the main fact upon which liability was made to depend. Evidence relevant to that fact was admissible. Evidence not relevant thereto was not admissible, either as tending to show liability, or to exonerate therefrom.
The appellant offered four witnesses, in the first instance, by whom he undertook to prove that appellee had pronounced certain ailments of such witnesses to be cancer, and sought to treat, and in one case did treat for such disease. That the sores, so diagnosed as cancers, got well by the application of simple remedies. Objections were sustained by the court to the proof of such facts. These rulings were correct. "Facts relevant to the issue are facts from the existence of which inferences as to the existence of the facts in issue may be drawn." "Four classes of facts, which in common life would usually be regarded as falling within this definition of relevancy, are excluded from it by the law of evidence, except in certain cases: (1) Facts similar to, but not specifically connected with, each other." 1 Rice. Ev., 490; Stephen's Dig. of Ev., Art 1; Reynolds' Stephen Ev., Art. 10. There was no connection between the offered proof and the diagnosis and treatment given appellant. It was therefore collateral and inadmissible. Appellee was allowed to testify, over objection, that during the past seven years he had treated forty-five or fifty cases of cancer with the same remedy applied to appellant; that he had succeeded in his treatment of all but ten per cent. of them, and that such patients were old persons whom he did not expect to cure.
A witness introduced by appellee testified that he was a physician and surgeon; that he had occasion to examine a person named, and pronounced and believed her affection to be cancer; that appellee treated her in his presence, and that she recovered and remained well. Another doctor was allowed to state that he had examined the lip of another patient treated by appellee; that he diagnosed the affection as cancer, and that after the treatment by appellee the lip assumed its normal condition. Much other evidence was introduced of the same character, relating to the appellee's treatment of various other persons, and entirely disconnected from the treatment of appellant. It can make no difference as regards the admissibility of such evidence whether the result was good or bad. It is inadmissible in either event. The principle is illustrated by many cases. Evans v. Koons, 10 Ind.App 603, 38 N.E. 350; Cleveland, etc., R. Co. v. Wynant, 114 Ind. 525, 529, 5 Am. St. 644, 17 N.E. 118; Gaar, Scott & Co. v. Wilson, 21 Ind.App. 91, 51 N.E. 502; Nave v. Flack, 90 Ind. 205, 46 Am. Rep. 205; Holtzman v. Hoy, 118 Ill. 534, 59 Am. Rep. 390, 8 N.E. 832; Thompson v. Bowie, 4 Wall. 463, 18 L.Ed. 423; Gillett Ind. and Collat. Ev., §§ 55, 56; Lacy v. County of Kossuth, 106 Iowa 16, 75 N.W. 689, 692; Van...
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