Lucy Webb Hayes National Training School v. Geoghegan, Civ. A. 1137-67.
| Court | United States District Courts. United States District Court (Columbia) |
| Writing for the Court | James A. Willey, Washington, D. C., for defendants |
| Citation | 281 F. Supp. 116 |
| Parties | LUCY WEBB HAYES NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL FOR DEACONESSES AND MISSIONARIES, etc., Plaintiff, v. Thomas D. GEOGHEGAN, Ellen S. Geoghegan, Defendants. |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. 1137-67. |
| Decision Date | 28 June 1967 |
281 F. Supp. 116
LUCY WEBB HAYES NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL FOR DEACONESSES AND MISSIONARIES, etc., Plaintiff,
v.
Thomas D. GEOGHEGAN, Ellen S. Geoghegan, Defendants.
Civ. A. 1137-67.
United States District Court District of Columbia.
June 28, 1967.
Thomas M. Raysor, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff.
James A. Willey, Washington, D. C., for defendants.
OPINION
HOLTZOFF, District Judge.
The plaintiff's prima facie case tends to show the following facts: that defendant Ellen S. Geoghegan has been a patient for a considerable length of time at Sibley Memorial Hospital, which is maintained and operated by the plaintiff corporation. The hospital is a private hospital. Evidence has been further introduced tending to show that the hospital came to the conclusion that the patient no longer needs hospital care but can be adequately provided for at a nursing home.
After a series of negotiations on June 2nd, 1967 the president of the hospital corporation made a formal demand on the defendant Thomas Geoghegan, the husband of the other defendant, that Ellen Geoghegan, his wife, be transferred from Sibley Memorial Hospital. This demand is worded as follows: "I again request you to make arrangements for the transfer of your wife, Ellen Geoghegan, from Sibley Memorial Hospital." The mere fact that the polite word "request" is used does not detract from the tenor of the letter as a demand.
What, then, is the status of the defendant Ellen Geoghegan when her departure from the hospital has been demanded by the hospital? Manifestly she becomes a trespasser. This action is brought for an injunction to require her removal from the hospital as a trespasser. Obviously an action for damages would be an inadequate remedy.
A private hospital has a right to accept or decline any patient. It has a moral duty to reserve its accommodations for persons who actually need medical and hospital care and it would be a deviation from its purposes to act as a nursing home for aged persons who do not need constant medical care but who need nursing care. There are homes for the aged, there are nursing homes and similar institutions. Hospitals have a duty not to permit their facilities to be diverted to the uses for which hospitals are not intended.
The correspondence introduced in evidence shows that the male defendant takes the position that his wife should remain in the hospital for the remainder of her life. For the hospital to permit that would be to allow a...
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Ramirez de Arellano v. Weinberger, 83-1950
...113 U.S. 537, 5 S.Ct. 565, 28 L.Ed. 1116 (1885); Lucy Webb Hayes Nat'l Training School for Deaconesses & Missionaries v. Geoghegan, 281 F.Supp. 116 (D.D.C.1967); 6A J. SACKMAN, NICHOLS' THE LAW OF EMINENT DOMAIN Sec. 28.3 (3d ed. 1981). 121 See supra note 15. 122 429 F.2d 1197 (2d Cir.1970)......
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Ramirez de Arellano v. Weinberger, 83-1950
...113 U.S. 537, 5 S.Ct. 560, 28 L.Ed. 1113 (1885); Lucy Webb Hayes Nat'l Training School for Deaconesses & Missionaries v. Geoghegan, 281 F.Supp. 116 (D.D.C.1967); 6A J. SACKMAN, NICHOLS' THE LAW OF EMINENT DOMAIN Sec. 28.3 (3rd ed. 54 See Semmes Motors Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., 429 F.2d 1197 (......
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Hayes-Albion v. Kuberski, HAYES-ALBION
...(quoting with approval Jones v. Lassiter, 169 N.C. 750, 86 S.E. 710 [1915]. See also Lucy Webb Hayes Nat'l Training School v. Goeghegan, 281 F.Supp. 116 12 See E.I. DuPont de Nemours Power Co. v. Masland, 244 U.S. 100, 102, 37 S.Ct. 575, 61 L.Ed. 1016 (1917); Franke v. Wiltschek, 209 F.2d 4......
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Midstate Medical Center v. Doe, No. CV-06-4005623S.
...no longer in need of medical care." Id., at 25, 404 A.2d 44. The court, in Lucy Webb Hayes National Training School v. Geoghegan, 281 F.Supp. 116 (D.D.C.1967), went still further and determined that the patient, once medically discharged and no longer in need of hospital care, had become a ......