Lectures on topics connected with medical jurisprudence delivered before the medical department of the University of Vermont / by E.J. Phelps, April, 1881 ; reported stenographically by Sumner Gleason and Chas. H. Nichols, and printed for the use of the medical class.

  • Phelps, Edward John, 1822-1900.
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on topics connected with medical jurisprudence delivered before the medical department of the University of Vermont / by E.J. Phelps, April, 1881 ; reported stenographically by Sumner Gleason and Chas. H. Nichols, and printed for the use of the medical class. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    it is not often attempted. I have known such cases, but they are very rare. These claims ordinarily occur in surgery, where a man fails to recover entirely from an injury which has been surgically treated, and remains more or less a cripple, or de- formed, afterwards. Those are usually the cases in which actions for malpractice arise. As you all know, there is a certain class of cases, inju- ries, fractures, dislocations, etc., where the patient may obtain a perfect cure, and he may not. It may depend upon the constitution, habits, or age of the patient, it may depend upon the daily care he receives, it may depend upon various cir- cumstances, and of course it depends very much upon the treatment. In some such case the patient fails to get well; he has had a hard time of it; it is easy for him to think that the physician has not done right, that he might have done bet- ter, that if he had been dealing with a rich and influential party whoso business he was anxious to obtain, ho would have been more careful. Perhaps the patient finds some other phy- sician, who tells him the course pursued was not the best. It is so much easier to point out an error afterwards, than to an- ticipate it. Such are the cases that arise, and unfortunately for the profession, they have to be determined by juries, who are the most incompetent judges possible, of such questions. I hope to see the time when all cases of personal inju- ry, or alleged personal injury, made the foundation of actions for damages, will be referred by the court, at the instance of either party to the cause, to a competent body of medical experts, disinterested and disconnected with the case, who shall have power to hear the parties, and the story of the attending physicians, to call to then aid any medical evidence they may think desirable, to examine the patient as much as they please, to take then own time, and finally to determine whether the man is hurt, how much he is hurt, whether he is likely to get well, and when, and all that can be determined by medical skill. And so in case of mal-