Massachusetts General Hospital v. Fairbanks

• Decision Date: 13 March 1882
• Citation: 132 Mass. 414
• Parties: Massachusetts General Hospital v. Caroline E. Fairbanks
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

132 Mass. 414

Massachusetts General Hospital v. Caroline E. Fairbanks

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

March 13, 1882

Argued November 10, 1881; November 11, 1881 [Syllabus Material] [Syllabus Material] [Syllabus Material]

Suffolk. Contract on an account annexed for board and other supplies furnished the defendant at the McLean Asylum for the insane at Somerville, from October 1, 1872, to August 25, 1873.

The writ, dated December 19, 1876, alleged that the defendant was an insane person, and that Edward A. Caswell was her guardian. Service was made upon Caswell, who appeared and filed an answer, alleging that before October 1, 1872, the defendant was insane, and has since continued to be so; that about October 15, 1869, the plaintiff made an agreement with William H. Towne and Isaac H. Wright for the defendant's board and the supplies to be furnished her at the McLean Asylum while she should be there; that, after she had been removed therefrom, the plaintiff brought an action in the Superior Court on this agreement, against Towne and Wright for the same cause of action for which this action is brought, and at October term 1875 recovered judgment thereon, which judgment is still in force.

After the former decision, reported 129 Mass. 78, the case was tried in the Superior Court, without a jury, before Dewey, J., who reported the case for the determination of this court in substance as follows:

The plaintiff read the pleadings, and rested. There was no dispute as to the items of the plaintiff's account. The guardian put in evidence of the following facts:

On October 15, 1869, William H. Towne and Isaac H. Wright signed and delivered the following instrument to the plaintiff: "In consideration of Mrs. Caroline Fairbanks being admitted a patient into the McLean Asylum for the insane, at our request, we, the undersigned, jointly and severally promise the Massachusetts General Hospital to pay the treasurer thereof at said asylum, quarterly, on the first days of January, April, July and October, with interest after said days respectively, the rate of board which may from time to time be determined by the trustees of said hospital for said patient; to provide or pay for all requisite clothing and other things necessary or proper for the health and comfort of said patient; to pay for all proper expenses incurred for the return of said patient to the asylum in case of elopement; to remove said patient when discharged; to reimburse funeral expenses in case of death; and if removed uncured against the advice and consent of the superintendent, before the expiration of three calendar months, to pay board for thirteen weeks, the rate at which the patient is admitted below, and the trustees may change the same at any time, giving us three weeks' notice by mail in case the rate is to be raised. Witness our hands this fifteenth day of October, 1869."

On the same paper was the following order of admission, signed by two of the visiting committee of the plaintiff: "Receive the above-named patient if brought within two weeks from date, at $ 30 per week." By virtue of this order, the defendant, after the obligation of Towne and Wright was given, was retained at the McLean Asylum until August 25, 1873.

The plaintiff then put in evidence tending to prove the following facts:

The agreement of Towne and Wright was not executed until Mrs. Fairbanks had been in the hospital about a fortnight, but bore date of the time of her admission, October 15, 1869. On her admission to the hospital, upon the certificate of two physicians, under an application of one of the proprietors of a hotel in Boston, where she was boarding, she was suffering from an attack of acute mania. The price to be paid for board was arranged by the committee of the hospital, after consultation between the superintendent and Towne, who was, and for some time had been, her attorney at law, and it was fixed with reference to what was stated by Towne as to the amount of her property and income. After she had been at the asylum about a fortnight, the superintendent called Towne's attention to the requirement of the hospital, that two persons should sign an agreement in the form of that signed by Towne and Wright, dated October 15, 1869. Towne, being told by the superintendent that when a patient was a person of responsibility this agreement was a mere matter of form, and that it did not matter if the persons signing were not persons of pecuniary responsibility, signed the agreement, expecting to be appointed guardian of the defendant, his application therefor in the Probate Court being on October 16, 1869, and his appointment on November 1, 1869; and, for Towne's accommodation, as the superintendent of the asylum was informed at the time, Wright also signed it, neither Towne nor Wright being related to Mrs. Fairbanks. From October 15, 1869, to August 25, 1873, all the board and supplies furnished Mrs. Fairbanks by the plaintiff were charged by the plaintiff in its regular books of account to Mrs. Fairbanks; but this was the usual course as to patients to identify them, and did not show to who credit was given. The plaintiff's bills for board and supplies were rendered quarterly to whomsoever was the guardian at the time. Some of them were made out in the name of the defendant and the rest in the name of the guardian, none to Towne and Wright, and they were paid by Towne, while guardian, out of the defendant's money received by him as guardian, so far as they were paid. Those in charge at the hospital, when the defendant wanted anything, came and saw Towne, who dealt with them in the capacity of guardian. The board was first fixed at $ 30 a week, until the superintendent said she could go into the Appleton Ward on payment of $ 50 a week, as the price of the board. Towne talked with her about it, and she wished to go into this ward, and did. The defendant, in the years 1872 and 1873, although an insane person, was competent to understand and did understand that the board and supplies furnished her were to be paid to the plaintiff out of her money, through her guardian. Her bills from October 1, 1872, were unpaid when Towne resigned his guardianship, on March 10, 1873; and Caswell was appointed his successor, on April 25, 1873, and at once, on his appointment, began to make payments to the plaintiff on account of these arrears.

In July 1873, the plaintiff sent Caswell a bill for all the charges in the account annexed to the plaintiff's declaration up to July 1, 1873, including those accruing while Towne was guardian. The bill was made out to Caswell as guardian, and in reply Caswell wrote to the plaintiff's superintendent, "I shall being immediately to pay off your bill and liquidate the indebtedness as fact as possible," and afterwards, on July 8, 1873, wrote said superintendent, signing as guardian, a letter containing this language: "I shall send you a check of $ 50 this week and a much larger one by the 15th, and so continue to pay off the ward's indebtedness as soon as possible." As guardian, the said Caswell made payments on account of the same.

Another bill was sent by the plaintiff to Caswell, made out to him as guardian, after the defendant left the plaintiff's asylum, covering all the items of the plaintiff's account; and, in reply, Caswell, in October 1873, sent to the plaintiff's superintendent a letter containing these words: "Enclosed is a check for $ 300, and I shall send on every month an equal amount, if possible, something always;" -- and at the same time sent to the plaintiff's attorney at law a...