Brydges v. Cunningham

Citations

• 69 Wash. 8
• 124 P. 131
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 836

Syllabus

<p>Physicians and Surgeons—Malfractice—Evidence—Sufficiency. In an action for malpractice in failing to properly diagnose a case and treating an injury to the sciatic nerve of a child as typhoid fever, a judgment of dismissal, notwithstanding a verdict for' the plaintiff, is proper, where it appears from all the evidence that there was no injury to the sciatic nerve but that the child was suffering from infantile paralysis, which was incurable, that the treatment for typhoid fever did not contribute to the present condition of the child, and that the defendant, as a man of ordinary skill in the medical profession, could at first have diagnosed the case as typhoid fever, multiple neuritis, or infantile paralysis.</p> <p>Trial—Province of Court and Jury—Directing Verdict. Where there is no evidence upon which the jury could rest a verdict, and there is nothing to submit to the jury, it is the duty of the court to so hold.</p>