Kletrovetz v. Grant Hospital
| Decision Date | 10 October 1957 |
| Parties | , 6 O.O.2d 58 KLETROVETZ, Appellant, v. GRANT HOSPITAL, Appellee. * |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court
1. A nonprofit, eleemosynary hospital is, under the doctrine of respondeat superior, liable for the torts of its servants; but such rule of liability does not relieve a plaintiff from alleging and proving negligence on behalf of the servants of the hospital.
2. It is the duty of a person seeking to recover for an injury to establish the proximate cause of that injury by a preponderance of the evidence; and where two or more reasonable inferences may be drawn from established facts, it cannot be presumed that the injury occurred in the manner which would give rise to liability.
Morton Y. Reeves, Columbus, for appellant.
Gingher & Christensen, Columbus, for appellee.
This is an appeal on questions of law from the Common Pleas Court of Franklin County, wherein the plaintiff, appellant herein, claims that the court erred in sustaining the motion of the defendant, appellee herein, to arrest the case from the jury and for judgment on the opening statement. Most of the questions presented here have been determined by the Supreme Court in Avellone v. St. John's Hospital, 165 Ohio St. 467, at page 472, 135 N.E.2d 410, at page 414, wherein it held:
'It is interesting to note that this court in 1911 established a rule of full immunity from liability, made an exception to this rule in 1922 by recognizing liability against the charitable institution for injury caused by negligent selection of servants by such institution, and, in 1930, made a further exception by recognizing liability against such institution as to strangers, i. e., those not beneficiaries of the charity. * * *'
The general rule of nonliability of charitable institutions has been modified in Ohio by a Supreme Court decision in 1922 making the charitable hospital liable for negligent selection of its servants; and in 1930, in Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati v. Duvelius, 123 Ohio St. 52, 173 N.E. 737, the immunity from liability was extended to permit strangers who were not beneficiaries of the charity to collect for the negligent acts of the servants of the hospital. In 1956, in Avellone v. St. John's Hospital, supra, 165 Ohio St. 467, 135 N.E.2d 410, the majority opinion took away the immunity of nonprofit hospitals from the operation of the rule of respondeat superior. Under the rule as we now understand it, a nonprofit charitable or eleemosynary hospital in Ohio may be held liable for the negligence of its servants and employees for their acts, under the doctrine of respondeat superior.
There was considerable discussion and argument in the instant case now before this court about whether Grant Hospital was responsible for the side rails not being on the bed of plaintiff Kletrovetz and about whether it was the duty or responsibility of her physician or the nurse assigned to the case. The theory back of this is that if the decision was a...
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Nieman v. Jacobs
...facts, it cannot be presumed that the injury occurred in the manner which would give rise to liability.' Kletrovetz v. Grant Hospital, 105 Ohio App. 236, 152 N.E.2d 149, 151. See also, Simmons v. F. W. Woolworth Co., 163 Cal.App.2d 709, 329 P.2d 999. It is thus readily apparent that the pre......
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Fergison v. Belmont Convalescent Hospital, Inc.
...plaintiff was asleep. Since she was awake at the time of the accident, this was held to have no application. In Kletrovetz v. Grant Hospital, 105 Ohio App. 236, 152 N.E.2d 149, recovery was denied despite the fact that the patient had had a hypnotic injection. The court said that it could n......