Williams v. Randolph Hospital, Inc.

• Decision Date: 25 March 1953
• Docket Number: No. 596,596
• Citation: 75 S.E.2d 303,237 N.C. 387
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: WILLIAMS, v. RADOLPH HOSPITAL, lnc.

Page 303

75 S.E.2d 303

237 N.C. 387

WILLIAMS, v. RADOLPH HOSPITAL, lnc.

No. 596

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

March 25, 1953

W. D. Sabiston, Jr., and E. J. Burns, Carthage, for plaintiff, appellant.

Spence & Boyette, Carthage, and H. M. Robins, Asheboro, for defendant, appellee.

JOHNSON, Justice.

It is settled law in this jurisdiction that a charitable institution may not be held liable to a beneficiary of the charity for the negligence of its servants or employees if it has exercised due care in their selection and retention. Barden v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 152 N.c. 318, 67 S.E. 971, 49 L.R.A., N.S. 801; Hoke v. Glenn, 167 N.C. 594, 83 S.E. 807; Herndon v. Massey, 217 N.C. 610, 8 S.E.2d 914; Johnson v. City Hospital Co., 196 N.C. 610, 146 S.E. 573; Smith v. Duke University, 219 N.C. 628, 14 S.E.2d 643. It is to be noted that the rule to which we adhere holds a charitable institution liable for failure to exercise due care in the selection and retention of its servants, Hoke v. Glenn, supra, and also permits a servant to recover for administrative negligence of the charity. Cowans v. North Carolina Baptist Hospitals, 197 N.C. 41, 147 S.E. 672. Thus the rule to which we adhere is that of qualified immunity.

The plaintiff, conceding the existence of the rule which obtains with us, takes a dual position in prosecuting this appeal. First, it is urged that the doctrine of immunity should be eliminated entirely from our law. And as an alternate contention, the plaintiff insists that in any event the instant case does not come within the bounds of our rule of immunity. This because the plaintiff was a paying patient in the defendant's hospital. Our attention is directed to the fact that in none of the decided cases in this jurisdiction has decision been made to turn on the question of the status of the plaintiff as a paying or non-paying patient or patron. Here the plaintiff points to what was said in the recent case of Williams v. Union County Hospital Association, 234 N.C. 536, 67 S.E.2d 662, 663:

'While the doctrine followed in this jurisdiction clearly exempts an eleemosynary hospital from liability for the negligence of its servants, who have been selected with due care, in the care and treatment of those who have accepted the benefits of the charity, so far this Court has not applied the doctrine as against one who is not a recipient of the charity but who, instead, pays full compensation for the services rendered. As to such patient, is the plea available to the defendant? While some of the cases cited contain dicta bearing on the question, as yet there is no authoritative decision in this jurisdiction.'

The plaintiff does not allege a failure of the defendant corporation to exercise due care in selecting its servants and employees. Barden v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., supra; Hoke v. Glenn, supra. Accordingly, the plaintiff's demurrer, which admits the defendant is a charitable hospital, presents for decision the broad question whether we shoule overthrow entirely our rule of immunity, and also the alternate question whether or not, assuming the rule is retained, it should be applied against a paying patient of a charitable hospital.

It has been forcefully argued by counsel for the plaintiff that we should re-examine our position and the policy behind it and determine that our rule of qualified immunity shall no longer be followed. Counsel has been diligent in the citation of authority, and the plaintiff's cause has been presented with great resourcefulness.

An examination of the authorities discloses that a great divergence of opinion exists in the various jurisdictions on the question of liability of a charitable institution for the negligence of its servants and employees. The range of decision is from absolute liability to complete immunity, with the weight of authority being on the side of immunity, either total or qualified.

The doctrine of immunity as applied in various jurisdictions rests upon different considerations. One line of cases bases the doctrine on what is called the 'trust fund theory,' that is to say, that all funds of charitable institutions are held in trust for the particular purpose for which the charity was founded, and that it would amount to a breach of trust to apply them to other uses--that to give damages out of the trust fund would not be to apply it to the object which the author of the fund had in view, but would be to divert it to an entirely different purpose. Other cases proceed upon the theory that one who accepts the benefit of a charitable institution is taken impliedly to have assented to assume the risk of negligent injuries caused by servants properly selected and retained, or to have waived liability for such injuries. In other cases decision is rested on considerations of public policy, with emphasis being given to the fact that these charitable and private eleemosynary institutions frequently perform public functions and render vital services within the zone of governmental duty.

It would serve no useful purpose for us to discuss in detail the merits or demerits, or the strong or weak points of these different theories. Suffice it to say that each of them seems to be subject to some measure of meritorious criticism. But regardless of the reasons given for the results worked out, the overwhelming numerical weight of authority is on the side of immunity, though the trend of decision seems to be toward qualifying or abandoning the rule. See Herndon v. Massey, supra; Annotation, 25 A.L.R.2d 29; 10 Am.Jur., Charities, Sec. 160 et seq.; 14 C.J.S., Charities, § 75; Prosser, Torts (1941) p. 1079 et seq.; Zollman, American Law of Charities, § 798 et seq.; 77 U. of Pa. L.Rev. 191; 19 Michigan L.Rev. 395; 30 N.C.L.Rev. 67; President and Directors of Georgetown College v. hughes, 76 U.S. App.D.C. 123, 130 F.2d 810.

However, in evaluating the weight of authority it must be kept in mind that in a number of jurisdictions the same result as that of qualified immunity is effected in the mode of applying the doctrine of respondeat superior, stress being laid on the inapplicability of this doctrine upon the theory that a charity has performed its whole duty when it tenders to a beneficiary a competent servant and that thereafter the servant becomes the servant of the beneficiary rather than the servant of charity. 10 Am.Jur., Charities, § 10; Zollman, American Law of Charties, § 820. It is noted that in a number of jurisdictions, including England and Canada, nurses, no less than physicians, when acting in professional capacity have been treated as not being the servants of the hospital but independent experts performing services for the patient. Other cases hold that a charitable hospital undertakes only to supply competent personnel, and is not responsible for the improper performance by such personnel of its duties. Annotation, 25 A.L.R.2d 29, pp. 40, 65, and 170 et seq.

An examination of the decisions of this Court dealing with the subject under discussion discloses that the rule of immunity is deeply embedded in the structure of our common law. Since the doctrine was first pronounced, it has been reaffirmed over and over again through the years. It is to be noted that the rule with us applies not only to hospitals, but presumably to a wide variety of institutions, such as orphanages, schools, colleges, churches, and numerous other allied benevolent services. A doctrine so deeply and widely implanted as is this in the structure of our common law, developed and congealed through the years by an unvarying line of judicial decisions, presumably reflecting the tested social values of our communities and the approved sentiments of our people, should not be lightly overturned or whittled away by this Court. The salutary need for certainty and stability in the law requires, in the interest of sound public policy, that the decisions of a court or last resort affecting vital business interests and social values, deliberately made after ample consideration, should not be disturbed except for most cogent reasons. Such is the gist of the doctrine of stare decisis. See 14 Am.Jur., Courts, §§ 60, 61, and 65. We are constrained to the view that this doctrine is applicable to the instant case.

For us to withdraw immunity from charitable institutions at this time, against the existing background of decisions of this Court, would in effect be an act of judicial legislation in the field of public policy. See these decisions from other jurisdictions expressing like views respecting application of the doctrine of stare decisis in similar circumstances: Howard v. South Baltimore General Hospital, 191 Md. 617, 62 A.2d 574; In re Erwin's Estate, 323 Mich. 114, 34 N.W.2d 480; Jones v. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, 7 N.J. 533, 82 A.2d 187; Gregory v. Salem General Hospital, 175 Or. 464 153 P.2d 837; Bond v. City of Pittsburgh, 368 Pa. 404, 84 A.2d 328; Miller v. Mohr, 198 Wash. 619, 89 P.2d 807; Foley v. Wesson Memorial Hospital, 246 Mass. 363, 141 N.E. 113; De Groot v. Edison Institute, 306 Mich. 339, 10 N.W.2d 907; Magnuson v. Swedish Hospital, 99 Wash. 399, 169 P. 828.

Whether some change in our rule is advisable as to hospitals operated by private and public charities and by political subdivisions of the State is a question of broad public policy to be pondered and resolved by the law-making body.

We come now to consider the question whether the plaintiff's status as a paying patient should be treated as exempting her from our rule of immunity so as to render the defendant hospital liable to her for the negligence of its employees.

Here the gist of the plaintiff's position is that where a patient pays or obligates to pay for the services rendered, or is accepted and cared for on that basis, by a charitable hospital, a contractual relation is thereby created between the parties under which the hospital, in consideration of payment or in contemplation thereof,...