Court Opinion

ID: 9850509
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:58:28.422732+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:38.324217
License: Public Domain

Parker, C.J.,
dissenting: This action was commenced by the issuance of summons on 11 August 1964.
The record shows that Dr. J. Burr Piggott, Jr., testified before the quoted part of his testimony in the majority opinion in substance, except when quoted: On 23 March 1963 he first saw plaintiff and made an examination of her in his office in South Carolina. He testified:
“At the time of my examination, I obtained a history of her injuries or her complaints. (Defendants requested and the Court instructed the Jury, that any statement by the witness as to what the Plaintiff said to him is to be considered by the Jury as it may tend to corroborate or support her testimony as she has previously testified here in Court, if the Jury finds that it does corroborate her testimony. It is not substantive evidence.) The patient gave a history of having been involved in a two car collision or auto accident on the 26th of October, 1962, at 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon when she was riding in the front right hand seat of a car driven by her father. The patient told me she was thrown forward when the collision occurred, striking her head and forehead against the front windshield glass, breaking the glass and abrading her forehead. She told me she was dazed for a few minutes, and she also wrenched and contused both knees and her low back. The patient further stated she was taken to her family physician immediately, Dr. Charles Simpson, Tabor City, who rendered first aid, cléaned up and treated her abrasions, and advised conservative treatment. She told me she had been up and around since the accident and had continued her schooling, but had not participated in any sports activities. She had continued complaining of pain in her back and complained of frontal headaches with difficulty in vision. The wrenching injuries to her knees has largely subsided. Pa*422tient had been up and around but she said she was having trouble with her low back and headaches.”
In Penland v. Coal Co., 246 N.C. 26, 97 S.E. 2d 432, Johnson, J., writing for the Court said:
“The defendants in their brief concede that the direct testimony of Dr. Chapman, ‘standing alone, if competent, would support an award.’ However, the defendants contend that Dr. Chapman’s opinions as to plaintiff’s alleged disability should be disregarded and treated as incompetent evidence in view of the witness’ admissions made on cross-examination to the effect that the testimony was based upon ‘subjective statements made by the claimant.’
“As to this contention, the rule is that ordinarily the opinion of a physician is not rendered inadmissible by the fact that it is based wholly or in part on statements made to him by the patient, if those statements are made, as in the instant case, in the course of professional treatment and with a view of effecting a cure, or during an examination made for the purpose of treatment and cure. ‘In such cases statements of an injured or diseased person, while not admissible as evidence of the facts stated, may be testified to by the physician to show the basis of his opinion.’ 20 Am. Jur., Evidence, Sec. 866, p. 729; Annotation: 65 A.L.R. 1217, p. 1223 et seq. See also: Annotations: 67 A.L.R. 10, 11, 18; 80 A.L.R. 1527; 130 A.L.R. 977; Wigmore on Evidence, Third Ed., Sections 688, 1718, and 1720; Rogers on Expert Testimony, Third Ed., Section 131, p. 301 et seq.; McCormick on Evidence (Hornbook), Sec. 266; Bryant v. Construction Co., 197 N.C. 639, 150 S.E. 122, and cases there cited; Martin v. P. H. Hanes Knitting Co., 189 N.C. 644, 127 S.E. 688.”
The testimony of Dr. Piggott I have quoted above was admitted in evidence without objection by defendant. In my opinion, the testimony of Dr. Piggott, as quoted in the majority opinion, was competent and properly admitted in evidence. I do not agree with Ihe majority that such testimony was inadmissible in evidence, and necessitates a new trial. To hold, as the majority opinion does, that Dr. Piggott’s diagnosis and opinion are inadmissible in evidence because based in part on statements given to him in 1963 by plaintiff when she was examined by him for the purpose of rendering to her medical assistance, is unpractical, because a doctor customarily relies upon such statements made to him by a patient in the practice *423of his profession, and such a holding defies the usual processes of medical thought.
I vote to sustain the verdict and judgment below.