INJURED DOG

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 33, 8 August 1933, Page 9

INJURED DOG

TREATMENT FAILURE

A SUCCESSFUL CLAIM

"CARE AND SKILL LACKED"

I At the Magistrate's Court today Mr. E. Page, S.M., gavo judgment for £10 10s against Thomas Charles Webb, vetorinary adviser to the Tail Waggers > Club, in an action in which Webb was sued for £25 by E. E. Lcighton, who alleged that Webb had failed- to apply correct treatinont to his Alsatian clog, with the.result that it had to be destroyed. The Tail Waggers' Club was sued jointly with Webb, but tho Magistrate hold, that the club was not liable for tho consoqueneos of Webb's treatment,-' and the case against it was dismissed. Webb was ordered to pay Court costs, solicitors' fees incurred by tho plaintiff and-tho club, and witnossos's expensos,- totalling £11 5s ett. In.the courso of a reserved judgment Mr. .Pago said that upon tho facts he found in favour of the plaintiff. In his view it had been established that the main injury which the plaintiff s clog sustained by~reason of its accident with a motor-cycle was a dislocated left kin: "The defendant," said Mr. Page, "failed to diagnose and treat ?uch injury £nd such failure was duo So' a Jack of that degree of caro and skill which in the circumstances the law demanded of Mm. . . " CASE AGAINST CLUB. The position of tho Tail Waggers' Dlub roquired Separate- consideration. Membership of tho club, for which a 'cc- of 2s 6d a year was payable, ear•ied .with it tho right to advice from. ;ho club's "veterinary adviser" free>f charge. If any treatment by him. ither than advice,was asked for,, the nembor asking for it was required to, nako his own arrangements with the '■ctorinaiy adviser regarding tho paynent for such treatment. The plainis was awaro Of this and at the first nterview with Webb discussed tho [uestion, of foes that would be incured. .The mere incidence of liability or payment for the services did. not, lOwover, dispose of the matter. A ibspital board was not liable for the legligonco of a medical practitioner in ho' treatment >of its patients. . . The inly duty undertaken by the board was o use due care and skill in selecting its nodical staff. "Here," said Mr. Page, "the contact made by the Tail Waggers 1 Club fas not to givo advice or treatment, mt to provide some one who would give his. The club had no manner of conrol over the opinion to be formed by uch person, nor over the method of roatment to; be accorded by him. I ,m of opinion that such person, when o acting, was not the servant or agent if the club, and that the club cannot on he ground of employment or of agency io held liable for the consequences of vay lack of care or' skill on his part. CAKE IN SELECTION OF ADVISER. "The alternative ground on which, he .plaintiff seeks judgment against he club, namely, that-it failed to exirciso duo caro and skill in. the selection if the, .'veterinary adviser* supplied by t, creates- somo1 difficulty. It is admit;ed that tho defendant Webb is not; on ho Now Zealand register of voteriiary'surgeons and that he does, not lolcl such,diploma or such other qualiieations specified in the Act as would intitle him. to -be so registered, and it Lppcars that this fact was known.tothe j ilub .officials sortie "months prior to-tho nciclonts noAV being inquired into.- ; _ ; _ "He is not, however,;without experiincoiii tlie treatment of animal^. In Eis.earlier years he was engaged n farming, and, for a time during that )eriod.p ho- was associated with .and ictocT as assistant to a veterinarian. EEo/waslfbr somo. forty years in the i.gricultur.al Department as an inspectpr )r' deputy!.inspector of stock. In 1907 le, wilh-^ome ninety others, underwent i.' .".veterinary examination under the jhie£~ veterinarian of the Department, ffo was' ; 6ne of the ten candidates that passed, and he thoreby obtained his jertifieate' aa first-grade inspector of stock. '.' In that capacity' he has over nany years treated stock for a variety }f complaints; he. has from time to time boon called in consultation by leads of the Department, regarding siejeliess iv stock and its treatment, and io has conducted post-mortem examinations on animals. Since ho left the Department in. 1926 ho has been in practico as what he terms an 'expert an animal diseases. Dogs and" cats a specialty.' Ono would expect that lie nust with that experience, hayo picked ip a. fair: working1 knowledge of tho liseasos of dogs and their treatment. "It is shown that several othevs, not beingl on the register of veterinary.surjeons are similarly practising in Wellington, and that there is only one practitioner in. private practice 6i Wollington who is.a registered veterinary surgeon. > "Upon the whole I do not think it tias been shown that the club failed to use due care in the selection of its Veterinary, adviser,' and the plaintiff's slaim against tho club on that ground lias therefore also, not been established.?' At the' hoaring Mr. Q. G. G. Watson ippoarecl for the plaintiff, Mr.' W. E. Leicester for the club, and Mr. W. P. Rollings for: the. defendant.