Hamel v. Southern Ry. Co.

Citations

• 113 Miss. 344
• 74 So. 276

Syllabus

<p>1. Witnesses.' Privileged communications to physician. Cause of death.</p> <p>Under Code 1906, section 3695, providing that communications by a patient to his physician are privileged, in an action against a railway company for the death of plaintiff’s husband, it was error to allow the defendant to prove by decedent’s physician that the cause of death was not caused by the injuries sustained.</p> <p>2. Witnesses. Privileged communications to physician. Waiver.</p> <p>Where in a suit by a wife for the death of her husband, the. defendant first introduced one of his physicians to show that the injuries sustained did not cause his death, the fact that the wife afterwards, introduced another of his physicians to rebut the testimony did not cure the .error in allowing the defendant to introduce the privileged communications of their witness.</p> <p>3. Tbial. Jurisdictions. Negligence. Sufficiency of evidence.</p> <p>Where the wife suing for the death of her husband had shown that his injuries were inflicted by defendant’s running train, this under Code 1906, section 1985, so providing made out a prima-facie case of liability which defendant failing to explain an instruction for the defendant that plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that decedent w:as injured by defendant’s negligence was erroneous.</p> <p>4. Death. Grounds of action. Cause of death.</p> <p>A wife suing for her husband’s death, may recover, though the injury was not the sole cause of his death, for if the injury aggravated his condition or hastened or contributed' to his death, she could recover.</p>