Keyser v. Richards

⁶⁷¹ Pattisoít, J., delivered the opinion, of the Court. The suit in this ease was brought by Herman S. Keyser, administrator of C. Bernard Keyser, deceased, against Gran-ville H. Richards, Mary Irene Morris, Murray P. Brush, Isabelle T. Bagley and Martha Sue Hardesty, to recover for the physical pain and suffering of the said C. Bernard Keyser, caused, as alleged, by the negligence of the defendants in the treatment, nursing, care, and management of the said C. Bernard Keyser while a student at the Tome Institute. The appellees demurred to- the declaration and the- demurrers were sustained, with leave to the plaintiff to- amend, but as he refused to- amend, judgment was entered for the • defendants, and this app-e-al is from that judgment. The declaration alleges that: “Herman S. Keyser, administrator of 0.

Bernard Keyser, deceased, by Isaac Lobe Straus and Yernon Cook, Ms attorneys, sues Granville II. Richards, Mary Irene Morris, Murray P. Brush, Isabelle T. Bagley and Martha Sue Hardesty. “Bor that the plaintiff is the administrator of C. Bernard Keyser, duly appointed -by the Orphans’ Court of Baltimore City; that the said 0. Bernard Keyser, now deceased, was the only son of the plaintiff, and that the said 0. Bernard Keyser died on March 13th, 1923. “In January, 1923, the plaintiff entered Ms son as .a student at the Tome Institute, Port Deposit, Cecil County, Maryland, a school for boys.

About two years prior to the date mentioned the said C. Bernard Keyser had suffered a serious illness, and upon entering Mm in the Tome Institute the plaintiff notified the .authorities in charge of the said school that the boy had been away from school for nearly two years, had suffered from tonsilitis, rheumatism, chorea and heart lesion and endo-carditis, and especially requested that his son should receive the personal supervision of the head of the school, should not be given violent exercise, and that the plaintiff should he notified in ease .the boy at -any time appeared to be unwell. ⁶⁷² “That subsequently, about Eebruary 1, 1923, said C. Bernard Keyser became sick and was sent to the infirmary of the Tome Institute, which is conducted under the management, supervision and control of the defendants; that although the plaintiff had requested immediate notice of any illness of his son, no notice was given him of his illness and the plaintiff did not learn of the same until Eebruary 4, 1923, when he happened to telephone his son and learned from his son that he was sick and in the infirmary. The illness was said to be either a cold or the grippe. The-boy was kept in the infirmary from Eebruary 1 to Eebruary 6, on which latter date he was discharged from the infirmary by the defendants, although he had not at that time recovered from his illness. “Subsequent to the above happenings the said C. Bernard Keyser occupied a room assigned to him in the dormitory on the third floor. About midnight of Eebruary 11, 1923, one of the water pipes in said building broke and a large quantity of water ran down through and over the walls and floor of the room occupied by the said .0.

Bernard Keyser. The walls-became thoroughly soaked and damp, and this condition was recognized by the defendants, who removed the boy to a dry room early Monday morning. On Tuesday, however, the boy was again removed to a room-on the second floor, directly underneath the room which he had previously occupied, the walls of which second-floor ropm had also been flooded and were damp,. and said 0. Berrnard Keyser was compelled to sleépin said damp room on Tuesday night, and continuously thereafter until Eebruary 16, notwithstanding that he-was at that time still sick. “On Eebruary 16, 1923, the boy complained to Isabelle T. Bagley, one of the defendants herein, and then and now the general housekeeper of the Tome Institute- (and as such housekeeper exercised her direct and personal control over the 'boys living at the school), that he was sick and asked her to take his temperature..

This she refused to do and ordered him to go to school. ⁶⁷³ The boy, however, instead of going to school, went to the defendant, Dr. Granville H. Richards, who was and is the school physician, and to whom was and is entrusted the medical care of the boys at the school (and particularly of the boys in the infirmary, and having the general charge and supervision of the infirmary and the patients, nurses, housekeeper and other employees therein). Said Dr. Richards took the boy’s temperature and found that he had a fever, and sent him to the infirmary. On February 18th the plaintiff visited his son at said infirmary. He found him in a room not sufficiently heated; the steam or hot-water pipes were hardly warm, the window was up and the wind blowing through the room, although the temperature outside was below freezing.

The plaintiff complained to the defendant, Mary Irene Morris, who was the resident nurse in charge of the infirmary (under the supervision of the defendant, Dr. Richards, and at such time in the immediate charge of the infirmary and the boys placed therein), about the room being so cold, and she informed the plaintiff that the man who fired the heating plant had not been around that morning, although it was then between 10.30 and 11 o’clock. The plaintiff, being desirous of seeing the defendant, Dr. Richards, asked when he would call, and not being able to ascertain definitely, waited until late in the afternoon in the hope of seeing the doctor, but no doctor called. During this time the plaintiff observed that his son, although suffering with a high fever and temperature^ was compelled to get up out of his bed and walk through a cold hallway every time he had to visit the'toilet. The plaintiff thereupon insisted that the nurse should provide a urinal and bed pan, which she agreed to do.

He also requested that his son be protected from chilling and kept quietly and warmly in bed and not allowed to get out of bed for any purpose whatever, to all of which the nurse agreed. “On February 19 the plaintiff called the defendant, Dr. Richards, by telephone and told him that he considered that, his son was not receiving proper nursing ⁶⁷⁴ attention in that he had been required, notwithstanding that he had a high fever, to get out of bed and go through the hallway aforesaid every time he wished to go to the toilet, and asked the defendant, Dr. Richards, to have this condition remedied in the future, and not to let the hoy get out of bed for any reason whatever, which the defendant, Dr. Richards, promised he would do. The plaintiff also asked the said defendant what was the matter with his son, and the defendant replied that he had the grippe, accompanied by fever and temperature. The defendant, Dr. Richards, also suggested that he would move the boy to a private room on the second floor, where he could be watched more closely and given better attention. This was accordingly done.

On February 20 the plaintiff again talked with the defendant, Dr. Richards, over the telephone. The doctor said that the boy was doing very well; was better than the day before, his temperature was still not normal and the doctor further said that he had given orders that the boy was not to get out of bed for any purpose. On February 21 the defendant, Murray P. Brush (the principal or headmaster of the Tome Institute, and in general charge of the entire institution, including the dormitory and the hoys living therein), being in Baltimore, visited, the plaintiff and assured him that his son was getting along nicely and he thought he would he all right in a few days. On this same day, Fehruarry 21, 1923, the defendant ordered the removal of the said 0. 'Bernard Keyser from the private room on the second floor to the general ward on the first floor.

The reason given for this removal was that one of the teachers at the Tome Institute, Professor Davenport, was seriously ill and that the father of said Professor Davenport, who is a Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, living at Easton, Maryland, came to Tome Institute to visit his son, Professor Davenport, and that the said C. Bernard Keyser was ordered out of his private room in order that the same might he used by Bishop Davenport, though this, of course, was done without the knowledge of the said Bishop; that ⁶⁷⁵ on the day in question the said 0. Bernard Keyser was very ill; he was suffering with rheumatic fever and endo-carditis. Tt is most essential to the proper treatment of this disease that the patient be given complete rest in bed and not allowed to make any exertion whatsoever, and not allowed to get out of bed for any cause whatsoever. The boy during the day in question had a temperature which ranged from 99 to 101, and a pulse which ranged from 90 to 108, and had been much weakened by his illness, from which he had then been suffering for many days.

Notwithstanding the critical illness of the boy, he was required to get up out of his bed unassisted and to walk downstairs to the first floor, and although he protested that he was too sick to do so, he was required to do so. Proper medical care would not have permitted his removal except for some most urgent reason and would not under any circumstances have permitted him in view of his heart condition to walk from the private room to the ward on the floor below. There was no sufficient cause for ordering his removal, and if the removal had been necessary the only permissible way of carrying out such removal according to well recognized and established medical practices would have been to have carried the boy on a stretcher, with proper bed7eovering about his body. This removal of the boy from the one room to the other was an act of the grossest neglect on the part of those in charge of the case, greatly aggravated and increased the seriousness of the boy’s illness, greatly increased his pain and suffering, and diminished his chance of recovery from the disease from which he was suffering. “On February 25, 1923, the plaintiff again visited the infirmary and protested against the- treatment which the boy had received, whereupon the defendant, Dr. Richards, became extremely angry and told the plaintiff that if he was not satisfied he should remove the boy immediately to some other hospital.

This, of course, was impossible in view of the boy’s condition. Subsequently, on March 5, 1923, the defendant, Dr. ⁶⁷⁶ Richards told the plaintiff that he proposed to give the hoy sodium caceadylate, a preparation containing arsenic, whereupon the plaintiff informed the defendant, Dr. Richards, that the hoy was not able to take arsenic, that this fact had been established during his previous illness while at a sanatarium conducted hy Dr. Sargent at Towson, Maryland; that Dr. Sargent had given the boy arsenic and found that it produced bad effects upon him. The plaintiff requested the defendant, Dr. Richards, to telephone to Dr. Sargent and confirm his statements on this matter. This, however, the defendant, Dr. Richards, failed or refused to do.

He gave the boy arsenic for two or three days, at the end of which time the boy showed signs of collapse and the defendant,