Need to Prove Negligence

Ramberg v. Morgan Case Summary In terms of the Doctrine of Respondent Superior, the employer of the sued doctor would be or could be liable for the actions or inactions of Dr. Morgan. In this case, the police agency would be the party that is liable. In this matter, Mr. Ramberg was struck by a car and his body was thrown a couple dozen feet. The driver of the car that struck Ramberg is the person who called police.

Upon showing up, there was only one of blood on the decedent but there was no sign of any fractures or other issues. Indeed, he deemed the man to simply being intoxicated. After the examination concluded, Ramberg was put in a cell and was basically ignored. He acted very much like a drunk would act. However, as it turns out he had pressure/bleeding in his brain and it eventually killed him.

Elements of Negligence The question to be answered for the case was whether Miller was negligent in his wrong diagnosis of the patient. More to the point, the question became whether or not Ramberg would have died had Miller diagnoses the patient correctly. Upon examination of the court, it was found that such injuries (such as the one sustained by Ramberg) are quite often (if not usually) fatal and the chance of Ramberg surviving would little to none even if he had been rushed to a hospital right away.

Again, the question became whether Ramberg would have lived had Morgan concluded the proper diagnosis. A prior court suggested he erred and awarded about $5,000 (in 1920's money) to the plaintiff. Duty to Care Morgan obviously had a duty to care and he did precisely that. He showed up when called (and that was an hour after the accident), he did a thorough examination and he came to a conclusion that he believed to be correct based on the evidence he could verify and what he could observe.

Breach of Duty The police department that temporarily held him (even when someone tried to take him home at one point) may have had some neglect involved relating to Mr. Ramberg but the outcome for the police holding him probably would have been the same as it was for Morgan. Morgan thought he was drunk so the police treated him like a drunk. The police were not qualified to make a different diagnosis.

Injury As noted in the case summary, Ramberg had a parietal and occipital bone fracture in his neck/head area. In terms of injury to the party suing for Ramberg, they were seeking remuneration due to the perceived malpractice of Dr. Morgan. Causation The causation asserted was that the misdiagnosis by Morgan led to Ramberg's death. Case Outcome The court held that there was no proof that Morgan could have prevented Ramberg's death. As such, they reversed.