Winters v. Rance
| Decision Date | 24 November 1933 |
| Docket Number | 28688 |
| Citation | 251 N.W. 167,125 Neb. 577 |
| Parties | HENRY C. WINTERS, A MINOR, BY SAMUEL L. WINTERS, HIS FATHER AND NEXT FRIEND, APPELLANT, v. WILLIAM T. RANCE, APPELLEE |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
APPEAL from the district court for Douglas county: CHARLES LESLIE JUDGE. Affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
Syllabus by the Court.
1. It is not error for the trial court to limit the jury to a determination of the one disputed question as made by the pleadings and evidence, upon which a verdict, if recovered would be allowed to stand.
2. The burden of proof in a malpractice case is upon the plaintiff, first, to prove the negligence in the treatment as alleged, and, second, to prove that this negligence was the proximate cause of the injury complained of.
3. Medical authorities are not admissible in evidence as independent evidence of the statements therein expressed, yet a cross-examiner may use such text-books in an effort to contradict an expert medical witness.
Appeal from District Court, Douglas County; Leslie, Judge.
Action by Henry C. Winters, a minor, by Samuel L. Winters, his father and next friend, against William T. Rance. Judgment for defendant and plaintiff appeals.
Affirmed.
B. S. Baker and S. L. Winters, for appellant.
Kennedy, Holland & De Lacy, contra.
Heard before GOSS, C. J., ROSE and PAINE, JJ., and BEGLEY and HORTH, District Judges.
This is a damage action, brought by the father and next friend of a minor, for malpractice in setting a fractured elbow. After a trial in the district court, the jury returned a verdict for the defendant.
On the afternoon of June 30, 1927, the plaintiff, a 7-year-old boy, fell out of a tree and broke his right arm at the elbow. The father, Samuel L. Winters, an Omaha attorney, was out of town, and the mother called Dr. William T. Rance, the defendant and appellee, who set the broken arm at the home in the evening, and the next day took the lad to the hospital and reset it.
In the petition the plaintiff charges that the defendant wrongfully, carelessly, and negligently bandaged the arm and elbow so tightly that it stopped all circulation in the arm, the fingers at times being blue-black, and continued this until it caused ischemic paralysis, followed by Volkmann's contracture; that this resulted in the loss of the power to use the hand, the same being hopelessly crippled.
The defendant in the answer alleges that the fracture was at the lower end of the humerus; that it was almost compound, and was a Y-shaped fracture, and that he carefully and properly treated the same, and was guilty of no negligence of any kind in the treatment thereof. No reply was filed.
The trial of the case developed into a battle between experts. The plaintiff presented Dr. William T. Coughlin, director of surgery at Washington University, and who has been for some years surgeon-in-chief at St. Mary's Hospital, St. Louis, and Dr. John J. O'Hearn. The defendant called as expert witnesses professors of surgery and of orthopedic surgery from the two medical schools in Omaha, and other surgeons of standing.
The facts as disclosed by the evidence show that at the lower end of the humerus, which is the large bone in the upper arm, there are two knobs, called condyles, and this fracture went across the shaft of the humerus and extended in a Y shape down into the joint, and it is technically known as a supra-condylar Y-shaped fracture. This is the most serious type of fracture one can have in the region of the elbow. In addition, the skin was caught in this fracture, and a superficial vein was pierced, and there was discoloration when the defendant arrived in response to the first call.
The evidence further disclosed that, upon being called to the home, Dr. Rance set the fracture and used adhesive tape at the wrist and on the outside of the arm to hold it in position, no tape going clear around at either place, but just to give support for a piece of tape to go over the shoulder and hold the hand up to the chest. By observing the radial pulse, he found it was not as strong as that in the other arm, so he cut the tape and lowered the arm a little until the radial pulse in both arms was the same. The arm was then supported in a loose sling. Dr. Rance told the mother that he would have the boy taken to the hospital the next morning for X-ray pictures. There it was set in the dark room, with the assistance of a fluoroscope, and after Dr. Rance had set it, Dr. Duncan, an expert, thought he could improve it a little, and did so. The arm was then taped up as before, with the tape going over the shoulder to hold the arm flexed, and again a cloth, about the size of a dish-towel, was made into a loose sling in which to rest the arm in what is known as Jones' position. After three days the swelling began to recede. Nine X-rays were introduced, showing about a 99 per cent. reduction of the fracture. Volkmann's contracture resulted; drawing up the fingers. This frequently follows a severe injury in the elbow joint when ischemic paralysis occurs, which is due chiefly to local and temporary deficiency of the blood.
It is admitted by the experts of both parties that the method used by Dr. Rance in suspending the arm after setting the fracture is the method first described by Sir Robert Jones, of Liverpool, and is an approved method. Dr. Coughlin plaintiff's expert, testified, by deposition taken in St. Louis, that in this particular fracture the surgeon is allowed to get the broken parts as nearly in their natural position as possible, by such a method as may be best in...
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