Case Name: Benjamin Stone vs. Edwin Jerome, Jr.
Court: Wayne Circuit Court
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1877
Citations: 1 Howell N.P. 260
Docket Number: 
Parties: Benjamin Stone vs. Edwin Jerome, Jr.
Judges: 
Reporter: Michigan nisi prius cases, decided by the state and federal courts in Michigan
Volume: 1
Pages: 260–261

Head Matter:
Wayne Circuit.
Benjamin Stone vs. Edwin Jerome, Jr.
Malpractice.
Plaintiff is a hydropathic physician, and attended defendant’s wife during her last illness. Dr. Brown an allopathic physician, and Dr. Walker, a homeopathic physician, had previously attended her without benefitting her.
Plaintiff sues for the value of his services. Defendant sets up in defence malpractice.

Opinion:
The Court,
Walker,- J.:
Held that in general a physician's undertaking, like that of a lawyer, is that he will exercise ordinary skill. (27 N. H. 471.) If one knowingly employs one who is not a regular physician, the latter is only required to exercise his best skill. (27 N. H. 460, 472; El well on Malpractice, 22, 29.) Plaintiff has proved that he practiced according to the hydropathic school. Witnesses for defendant belong to other schools, and testify, that plaintiff's practice was bad. But is one school to pass judgment on another ?
Judgment for plaintiff for $112.19.
(A. D., 1868.)