PHOEBE G. KENNEDY v. DR. FOUNTAIN PARROTT, 243 N.C. 355

Summary

Plaintiff consulted defendant as a surgeon. Defendant diagnosed plaintiff's ailment as appendicitis and recommended an operation to which plaintiff agreed. During the operation, defendant discovered some enlarged cysts on her left ovary, and he punctured them. Subsequently, plaintiff developed phlebitis in her leg. At trial, plaintiff testified that defendant told her that while he was puncturing the cyst he had to cut a blood vessel, which in turn caused plaintiff's phlebitis. Plaintiff underwent another surgical procedure by a different surgeon to correct the damage. In plaintiff's action for negligence arising from the allegedly unauthorized operation on the cysts, the judge granted defendant's motion for involuntary nonsuit. On appeal, the court affirmed holding that because plaintiff voluntarily submitted herself to defendant for diagnosis and treatment of an ailment, defendant's surgical procedure was, absent evidence to the contrary, presumably either expressly or by implication...