Some Lawsuits I Have Met and Some of the Lessons to be Learned from Them

Abstract

Expert Testimony by Deposition IN quite a number of malpractice and personal injury suits, the writer has grven testimony by affidavit or deposition, for use in the trial of these cases elsewhere, mostly at a considerable distance. In 1925, by stipulation between the attorneys acting for both sides of a medical malpractice suit resulting from x-ray treatment of eczema (in which $25,000 damages was claimed), in a southwestern State, certain questions were prepared and submitted to me for answers, the same to be introduced as evidence at the time of the trial. These questions were as follows: “Direct Interrogatory No. 1 : Please state your name, age, place of residence, and occupation.” Answer: . . . “Dir. Int. No. 2: State what experience you have had with the use of the x-ray machine.” “A. I have been using x-ray machines and apparatus since 1896. Have specialized in x-ray work since 1907.” “Dir. Int. No. 3: State what types of x-ray machines and tubes you have used.” “A. I have used static machines, Ruhmkorff coils, Tesla coils, open and closed core transformers, the gas tubes and Coolidge tubes: I believe, all the different types of apparatus used in x-ray work in this country.” “Dir. Int. No. 4: State, whether or not, in your opinion, and from your experience in x-ray work, a treatment with Victor Wantz x-ray machine, standard medium focus vacuum Coolidge tube, time of exposure five minutes, spark gap three inches, milliamperage five, distance 14 inches, no filter, would be considered a safe dosage In treatment of eczema.” “A. In my opinion, that would be a very safe dosage. It is about three-eighths of an erythema dose, or, to be more precise, it is exectly 75/196ths of the amount of x-ray which would produce a reddening of the skin comparable to a sunburn on an average individual with normal ordinary skin and the usual tolerance to the x-ray. Two and one-half times the dosage described in the question would still be within the amount of dosage considered as a safe single dose.” Cross-interrogatories “Q. 1: If a patient having a small rough place on his arm indicating eczema or ring worm is treated by an x-ray, where after the x-ray is applied the affected part within a week appears to be burned, and for which burn the operators of said x-ray treat the patient for approximately ten months, the arm becomes swollen to treble its natural size, that no improvement in the condition of the arm appears, but the condition becomes so serious that an operation was necessary and was made by Dr. N. M. P., of X . . . . .Street, X . . . . .,