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inner wall of the middle ear was diseased and dead. Dr. Williams also examined the right ear and found that it was not in as bad a condition as he had anticipated. He therefore decided to operate on the left ear instead of the right, performing an ossiculectomy, removing a part of the drum membrane and scraping away the diseased portion of the inner ear.
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were used during the operation. After the patient was unconscious, Dr. Williams made a full examination of Mrs. Mohr's left ear and discovered that it was in a worse state than her right ear: there was a small perforation high up in the drum membrane, hooded and with rough edges, and the bone of the
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Justice Brown began by noting the basic principle of the law that "every person has a right to complete immunity of his person from physical interference of others, except in so far as contact may be necessary under the general doctrine of privilege; and any unauthorized touching of the person of
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On appeal, Mrs. Mohr's lawyers, H. A. Loughran and S. C. Olmstead, argued that Mrs. Mohr's consent was necessary and without consent, Dr. Williams' actions constituted an assault and battery. Dr. Williams' lawyers, Keith, Evans, Thompson & Fairchild and John D. O'Brien, argued that in
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If an operation is performed on a patient without that patient's consent, and the circumstances were not such as to justify its performance without consent, that operation constitutes an assault and battery
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to be determined by the jury. The court held that the fact that Mrs. Mohr's family physician attended the operation and agreed with Dr. Williams' decision to operate on the left ear was irrelevant.
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circumstances such as this, where a physician acted to arrest disease and save life, a physician's actions should be held lawful even if the patient did not explicitly consent to the surgery.
164:. Mrs. Mohr was a patient who came to Dr. Williams complaining of trouble with her right ear. Dr. Williams examined her right ear and he discovered that there was a large perforation in the
263:, for the tort of assault and battery, a touching is unlawful if it is unauthorized regardless of the defendant's intent. Whether Dr. Williams' actions were authorized by Mrs. Mohr was a
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of the middle ear were probably diseased. Dr. Williams also examined Mrs. Mohr's left ear, but he was unable to make a full examination because of a foreign substance in the left ear.
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Mrs. Mohr later brought suit against Dr. Williams, claiming that he had damaged her hearing and seriously injured her person, and that, because she had not
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found for Mrs. Mohr and awarded her $ 14,322.50 in damages. The trial judge set aside the jury's verdict as excessive. Both parties appealed.
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another, except it be in the spirit of pleasantry, constitutes an assault and battery." Unlike the
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on her right ear to remove the polyp and diseased ossicles.
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The court therefore affirmed the orders of the lower court.
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Redbox
Automated Retail LLC v. Universal City Studios LLLP
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On Dr. Williams' recommendation, Mrs. Mohr agreed to have
1127:
Indiana Harbor Belt
Railroad Co. v. American Cyanamid Co.
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1323:
State Farm Mutual
Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell
207:. Mrs. Mohr asked the court to award her $ 20,000 in
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Spur
Industries, Inc. v. Del E. Webb Development Co.
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Tarasoff v. Regents of the
University of California
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900:Seong Sil Kim v. New York City Transit Authority
847:Farwell v. Boston & Worcester Railroad Corp.
567:Sioux City & Pacific Railroad Co. v. Stout
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1182:Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Thompson
768:Schloendorff v. Society of New York Hospital
492:intentional infliction of emotional distress
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243:ruled in favor of the plaintiff, Mrs. Mohr.
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1120:Alwin v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co.
622:Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co.
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994:Negligent infliction of emotional distress
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560:United Zinc & Chemical Co. v. Britt
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59:95 Minn. 261, 104 N.W. 12, 108 N.W. 818
16:Decision of the Minnesota Supreme Court
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1038:Molien v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals
983:Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc.
754:Union Pacific Railway Co. v. Botsford
377:
720:Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.
369:Text of opinion from a 1912 Casebook
1031:Miller v. National Broadcasting Co.
706:Jablonski by Pahls v. United States
454:Picard v. Barry Pontiac-Buick, Inc.
215:was held in the district court for
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1295:BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore
14:
1375:
1302:Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants
1189:Geier v. American Honda Motor Co.
362:
1161:Friend v. Childs Dining Hall Co.
893:United States v. GlaxoSmithKline
291:Select Cases on the Law of Torts
29:
907:United States v. Johnson (1987)
727:Mexicali Rose v. Superior Court
1349:1905 in United States case law
1154:Sindell v. Abbott Laboratories
854:Vance v. Ball State University
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259:which requires proof of a bad
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1234:Walt Disney World Co. v. Wood
1087:Boomer v. Atlantic Cement Co.
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661:United States defamation law
299:Cases and Materials on Torts
7:
1359:United States tort case law
1225:Joint and several liability
928:Yount v. City of Sacramento
508:Hustler Magazine v. Falwell
301:(8th ed., 2004), pp. 20-21.
293:(1912), Vol. 2, pp. 78-81;
116:1905) is a decision of the
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976:Ultramares Corp. v. Touche
713:Kerans v. Porter Paint Co.
356:, 104 N.W. 12 (Minn. 1905)
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813:Hitaffer v. Argonne Co.
241:Minnesota Supreme Court
118:Minnesota Supreme Court
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1245:Comparative negligence
1017:Archibald v. Braverman
405:United States tort law
633:Tortious interference
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154:Saint Paul, Minnesota
1254:Li v. Yellow Cab Co.
1147:Thomas v. Winchester
532:Rowland v. Christian
523:Trespass to chattels
231:Opinion of the Court
160:in disorders of the
130:American law schools
935:Pearson v. Callahan
738:Medical malpractice
144:Dr. Williams was a
1168:Loop v. Litchfield
969:Ybarra v. Spangard
864:Public Authority,
806:Cahoon v. Cummings
797:Loss of consortium
607:, Publicity rights
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546:Dougherty v. Stepp
287:John Henry Wigmore
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189:Anesthetics
128:classes in
92:Decision by
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674:Negligence
653:Defamation
578:Conversion
274:References
174:middle ear
140:Background
953:Causation
197:consented
146:physician
1053:Nuisance
219:and the
178:ossicles
56:Citation
1217:Damages
1079:Private
605:Privacy
424:Battery
420:Assault
257:battery
253:assault
209:damages
205:battery
201:assault
185:surgery
172:in the
166:eardrum
150:surgeon
134:consent
77:Holding
48:Decided
1061:Public
521:&
422:&
261:intent
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108:, 104
249:crime
213:trial
211:. A
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126:Torts
114:Minn.
38:Court
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221:jury
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112:12 (
110:N.W.
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251:of
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