Barnes v. Providence Sanitarium

• Citation: 229 S.W. 588
• Decision Date: 23 March 1921
• Docket Number: (No. 6519.)
• Parties: BARNES v. PROVIDENCE SANITARIUM.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

229 S.W. 588

BARNES v. PROVIDENCE SANITARIUM.

(No. 6519.)

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. San Antonio.

March 23, 1921.

Rehearing Denied April 13, 1921.

Appeal from District Court, McLennan County; H. M. Richey, Judge.

Suit by J. N. Barnes against the Providence Sanitarium for damages for personal injury. Instructed verdict and judgment for the defendant, and the plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Tom M. Hamilton and J. A. Kibler, both of Waco, for appellant.

Sanford & Harris, of Waco, for appellee.

SMITH, J.

J. N. Barnes brought suit against the Providence Sanitarium, a Waco hospital corporation, for $40,000 damages, alleging that while he was confined to his bed as a patient in the hospital one of the attendants therein negligently administered a certain treatment to him, whereby he was seriously and permanently injured. The suit was defended upon the ground that the sanitarium was an institution of purely public charity and as such was exempt from liability for the negligent acts of its employés. The trial resulted in an instructed verdict in favor of the sanitarium, and from the judgment rendered in accordance therewith Barnes appeals, complaining: (a) That the trial court should have submitted to the jury the issue of negligence as well as the issue of whether or not the sanitarium was shown to be an institution of purely public charity; and (b) that the evidence not only failed to show that the sanitarium was such institution, but conclusively showed that it was not. We will consider these questions in the reverse order of their presentation.

The purposes of the corporation are thus stated in article II of its charter:

"Said corporation is formed for benevolent and charitable purposes, and especially for the maintenance, support and operation of a hospital in the city of Waco, Texas, at which the members of said corporation will administer to the sick, infirm and afflicted of all creeds and nations, and to enable its members to receive the sick, the helpless and afflicted and to nurse and care for them and to alleviate their pain and suffering and to restore them as far as possible to health."

Sister Regina, the president of the corporation, was the only witness in the case who testified to any facts bearing on the second question raised, or who undertook in any manner to describe or explain the nature of the business of the corporation, or the conduct of it affairs, the source or amount of its income, or the purposes or amounts of its disbursements. No other witness or source of evidence was offered or disclosed, if any existed. Her testimony is not as satisfactory or explicit, or as frank, in some particulars, as we would like or as the nature of the case and the defense thereof is entitled to; but it is undisputed, and, in the particulars mentioned, it comes here unchallenged. It is upon her testimony alone, then, that we state the case.

According to the testimony of Sister Regina, the "Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul" is a religious "community," the members of which are "Sisters of Charity," as they are described throughout the record in this case. The apparent objects of the order are: (a) The training of young women for nursing the sick and otherwise ministering to the unfortunate, and the care of them after they have devoted their active lives to such work and become infirm and indigent; and (b) through the medium of these Sisters of Charity, the establishment and maintenance of community local houses throughout the world. The parent organization, or "Mother House," is located in Paris, France, and a "Central House" for the eastern division of the United States is at Emmettsburg, Md., and of the western division at St. Louis, Mo., to which latter establishment the local communities in Texas are now attached, and to which they now report. In the United States there are now 30 or 40 "community houses," or hospitals, and in Texas 5, including the one involved.

Appellee, the Providence Sanitarium, is a product of the order mentioned, and is a corporation chartered under the laws of Texas, four Sisters of Charity, members of the community, being the first year directors designated in the charter. The purpose clause of the charter has already been shown. It has no capital stock. No certificates are issued as evidence of ownership of stock or of interest or membership in the corporation. The stockholders, or "members," as they are described in the charter, consist at the present of 12 Sisters of Charity of the community, who are selected by the Sister Superior at St. Louis and sent to Waco for that purpose. They manage the affairs of the corporation under the supervision of the St. Louis authority, who may remove them at will. The interest of these Sisters in the corporation is not assignable in any event. When sent to Waco for that purpose by the Sister Superior of St. Louis, they automatically became members of the corporation, and when they retire from membership in the society, either by death or removal by the Sister Superior, or otherwise, their membership in the corporation automatically ends. To be eligible for membership in the order, she must be of the Catholic faith, and for membership in the corporation she must be selected for that responsibility by the Sister Superior at St. Louis. They must report to and receive their instructions from the Sister Superior of the "Central House" at St. Louis, who is under like supervision of the Mother Superior at Paris. The Mother House at Paris is supported by the "central houses," which in turn receive their incomes from the local communities or hospitals, which derive their revenues from the fees of pay patients; that is to say, from patients or patrons of the hospitals who pay for the accommodations they receive from these institutions. This, in general terms, appears from the record to be the system of internal government under which the "Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul" operates.

The Providence Sanitarium, as a part of this system, began operating about the year 1905, although it does not seem to have been incorporated until 1908. Its grounds, comprising 8 or 10 acres of land, were donated to it by ciizens of Waco. Its buildings and equipment cost about $250,000. Of this amount, about $65,000 was loaned or invested by citizens of Waco, and $107,000 by the Central House at Emmettsburg; where the balance of it came from is not shown. The present value of the whole property is estimated to be a half million dollars. The buildings contain about 75 rooms, for the use of which pay patients are each charged from $10.50 to $45 a week; when a special nurse is furnished a patient, an additional charge of $25 a week is made. Extra charges are also made against pay patients for the use of the operating room in case of operations, laboratory facilities, medicines, medical supplies, surgical dressings, etc. From these charges against pay patients the sanitarium derives its revenues. The funds with which the sanitarium was constructed and equipped have never been repaid, except in a small part. The corporation has never made or declared a dividend, has never made any profits, and is at this time in arrears in the payment of interest on its debts, and in the...