Roth v. Dade County
| Citation | 71 So.2d 169 |
| Parties | ROTH et al. v. DADE COUNTY. |
| Decision Date | 16 March 1954 |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Marx M. Faber, Miami, for appellants.
Charles A. Kimbrell, Carl P. Stephens, Jr., and Dixon, DeJarnette & Bradford, Miami, for appellees.
Jackson Memorial Hospital is operated by Dade County. In November 1950, appellant entered said hospital for and received surgery. She requested a semi private room and received what was known to the hospital as group nursing, a system by which one nurse was assigned to three patients, each patient bearing his part of the nursing cost. During her confinement at the hospital and while she was unconscious, appellant was burned by hot applications, causing permanent scars and other injuries. She brought this action to recover damages to her person. There was an answer to the complaint which denied negligence on the part of defendant. At the trial after resting their case, plaintiffs moved to amend as authorized by Rule 15 B, Common Law Rules, the purpose of which was to apply the res ipsa loquitur doctrine. Defendant moved for directed verdict and argument was heard on both motions. The plaintiff's motion to amend was denied and the defendant's motion for directed verdict was granted on the ground (1) negligence on the part of defendant was not proven and (2) the proof did not show the nurses in charge of the patient at the time of the injury were agents, or employees of the hospital. We are confronted with an appeal from the final judgment.
The real point in issue is whether or not the nurses attending the patient during the period in which the injury is alleged to have occurred were agents or employees of the hospital.
As already pointed out when appellant entered the hospital, she requested group nursing. It is admitted that the hospital acted as agent for both the nurses and appellant, but as to the nurses, the hospital contends that its agency was limited to handling administrative and accounting matters and as a collecting agency, for which it was paid by the nurses. It contracted the group nurses for the patient and exercised supervision over them, but did not hire or fire them and did not control their employment. Their conduct while employed was under complete control of the plaintiff or her attending physician. Under such circumstances it is contended that the nurses were independent contractors and the hospital is not liable for their alleged...
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Dayton Tire & Rubber Co. v. Davis
...not avail himself of the doctrine if he proves specific negligence," 52 So.2d at 804, and expressed the same thought in Roth v. Dade County, 71 So.2d 169, 170 (Fla.1954), but silently retracted those statements in McKinney Supply Co. v. Orovitz, 96 So.2d 209 (Fla.1957). The Court later held......
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Musachia v. Terry
...disclosed were not such as to invite application of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur as to the hospital. See Roth v. Dade County, Fla.1954, 71 So.2d 169; West Coast Hospital Ass'n v. Webb, Fla.1951, 52 So.2d We conclude, however, that the trial judge committed error in directing a verdict ......
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Hine v. Fox
...man, negligence will not be presumed but must be proved. Cf., West Coast Hospital Ass'n v. Webb, Fla., 52 So.2d 803, and Roth v. Dade County, Fla., 71 So.2d 169. 'In cases arising from charges of malpractice, the sum of money involved, regardless of its size, is a mere gesture in comparison......
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South Florida Hospital Corp. v. McCrea
...evidence of specific negligence on the part of the defendant. West Coast Hospital Ass'n v. Webb, Fla., 52 So.2d 803; Roth v. Dade County, Fla., 71 So.2d 169. That this jurisdiction has not aligned itself with those jurisdictions so holding (33 A.L.R.2d 800) is evident from the decision in M......