Hanson v. Harris
| Decision Date | 31 August 1921 |
| Docket Number | 4842. |
| Citation | 184 N.W. 262,44 S.D. 457 |
| Parties | HANSON v. HARRIS. |
| Court | South Dakota Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Roberts County; Frank Anderson, Judge.
Action by Iver Hanson against H. G. Harris. From a judgment for plaintiff and an order denying a new trial, defendant appeals. Reversed.
See also, 183 N.W. 115.
Batterton & Bunde and E. J. Turner, all of Sisseton, and Geo. S. Rix of Milbank, for appellant.
Howard Babcock and C. R. Jorgenson, both of Sisseton, for respondent.
Action for the recovery of damages for alleged malpractice. Plaintiff had judgment, and defendant appeals.
Some time during the month of February, 1914, plaintiff was injured by having a wagon wheel run over his right knee. A physician was called, but the knee soon became badly swollen and inflamed and became very painful. About two weeks after the injury defendant was consulted and asked to treat plaintiff for the injury. Defendant was a practicing physician and surgeon, and owned and conducted a hospital at the town of Wilmot. He caused plaintiff to be removed to his hospital and at once examined the injured knee. At this time the knee appears to have been in a very serious condition. In addition to the swollen and inflamed condition of the knee plaintiff had considerable fever. Defendant opened the knee joint and found a large cavity filed with what he termed "thin sero purulent pus." The cavity extended a distance of five inches above the knee. A number of abscesses containing pus had formed about the knee. Defendant made four incisions, and drained and cleaned out the abscesses, and applied the proper drainage and irrigation. He inserted his finger through the incisions into the cavity of the knee, and ascertained that there was no fracture of any of the bones; but the joint was badly infected, and the bone had become infected to some extent. The treatment of the abscesses by drainage and irrigation was continued, and in a few days the knee showed signs of improvement. The swelling went down and the temperature of the patient was reduced.
This condition continued until about ten days or two weeks after plaintiff entered the hospital, when defendant injected into the joint and into the abscesses and pus cavities about the knee a preparation known as "Beck's paste." From the description of this preparation contained in the record, "Beck's paste" appears to be a thin salve, composed of a mixture of one part powdered bismuth and two parts vaseline. The purpose of this application appears to have been to hasten the healing of the abscesses and incisions that had been made by the defendant, and this result appears to have followed; but soon thereafter another abscess formed farther down on the calf of the plaintiff's leg. This abscess was opened and drained, and proper irrigation applied, and it appears to have soon healed.
Defendant continued to treat the injured member until the 11th day of April, when plaintiff was discharged from the hospital as "cured." At this time plaintiff's knee was nearly stiff, and so bent that, when he stood up, only his toes would touch the ground. All the openings in the leg except the lower one were healed, and that healed soon after, and none of them ever opened again. Both plaintiff and defendant appear to have believed that so far as possible the leg was cured, and plaintiff appears to have been well satisfied with defendant's services.
When plaintiff left the hospital, he was walking on crutches, and it was not long until he began to feel considerable pain in his knee. He did not report this to defendant, but waited until some time during the following December, when he went to a hospital in Sisseton, where he had two surgeons, Glacier and Peterson by name, operate on his knee. The knee joint was again opened, and it was found that plaintiff had necrosis of the bones of the knee joint, especially the lower end of the femur. In other words, the infection of the joint had extended to the bones and caused the decay of a considerable quantity of the bone. One of the surgeons who performed the operation testified that he found small quantities of "Beck's paste" in the joint. All of the dead bone, together with the particles of paste found in the joint, were removed. This operation appears to have relieved plaintiff of much of the pain that he had suffered theretofore. His knee was straightened, and by using a brace that relieves the knee of his weight he has some use of his leg.
Some months later he had an X-ray picture made of his knee. Nothing was disclosed by this picture that was not already known, except that it showed that in the cavities that had been formed by the abscesses in the muscles about the knee joint some of the Beck's paste that had been injected by the defendant still remained. Later on Drs. Peterson and Glacier again operated on the knee and removed this paste.
At the time of the trial all the abscesses and sores about plaintiff's knee were healed. His knee was practically stiff, and could be used but little, if any. Whether he can get around without the aid of a cane or crutch is not clear from the evidence; but by...
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