DENTIST DENIES NEGLIGENCE.

WOMAN'S ACTION.

Allegations Against Junior Partner.

The defence began in the Civil Court at the Assizes in Leeds, to-day, in the action in which a Middlesbrough woman sued her dentists for alleged negligence and breach of contract in treating her.

The plaintiff, Miss Mary Green (42), of Grey House, Cambridge Road, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, an assistant inspector under the Ministry of Health, was represented by Mr. Robert Fortune and Mr. J.H. Robson.

Defendants are Messrs. Binns and Collins, dentists, of Grange Road, Middlesbrough, who were represented by Mr. C. Paley Scott K.C., and Mr. W.A. Macfarlane.

Miss Green alleged that when Mr. Collins, the junior partner, extracted one of her teeth in April, 1932, he used an instrument which he had not sterilised, and that she contracted Osteomyelitis, which caused her jaws to become locked; that he fractured her jaw in a subsequent extraction, and that the defendants did not have an X-ray examination made for some time.

The defence is a denial of liability.

Senior Partner's Evidence.

Mr. Herbert Theodore Binns, senior partner in the defendant firm, said in evidence to-day that Miss Green went to them first in September, 1927, and he examined her right lower jaw, which she said had been troubling her.

He extracted one tooth, and formed the opinion that another tooth, the one which was extracted in 1932, was unhealthy. He made an X-ray examination, which showed that a piece of bone was missing between that tooth and the next.

He told her she ought seriously to consider having the unhealthy tooth taken out.

She did not have it taken out.

When Miss Green went to see him in 1932, he formed the opinion that there was an infection around the tooth which he had advised her to have extracted.

Describing the events after the tooth had been extracted by his partner, Mr. Binns said that he diagnosed osteomyelitis while Miss Green was in a nursing home in May, 1932.

He next saw her in June, 1932, and she told him that she had put a spoon between her back teeth and "had heard a loud crash."

William Joseph Collins, the junior partner, denied that the instrument which he used was unsterilised. All instruments were sterilised before being used, he added.

DAMAGES AGAINST DENTISTS.

Woman's Case in Leeds.

In an action for damages against a Middlesbrough firm of dentists, in the Civil Court at the Leeds Assizes yesterday, the special jury gave a verdict for the plaintiff, and counsel for the defence asked the Judge to rule that there had been no evidence in law for the jury's verdict. Mr. Justice Macnaghten replied that he had to accept the jury's verdict.

The action was brought by Miss Mary Green (42), of Grey House, Cambridge Road, Middlesbrough, an assistant inspector under the Ministry of Health, against Messrs. Binns and Collins, dentists, of Grange Road, Middlesbrough, for alleged breach of contract and negligence in treating her teeth, in 1932.

Miss Green was awarded £525 damages, including £375 damages for loss suffered up-to-date.

The plaintiff's case was completed on Tuesday, the the defence was heard yesterday. The allegations were that Mr. William Joseph Collins, junior partner, had used an unsterilised instrument in scraping the bone of Mss Green's jaw, following an extraction, and that inflammation of the bone (osteomyelitis) resulted; and that he subsequently fractured her jaw in extracting three other teeth. The allegations were denied yesterday by Mr. Collins, and by Mr. Herbert Theodore Binns, senior partner.

STERILISATION OF INSTRUMENT.

Professor Read, Warden of the Leeds Dental School, said that he did not think it at all likely that the instrument used by Mr. Collins could have caused poisoning. Cross-examined by Mr. Robert Fortune (for plaintiff), Professor Read said that the extraction might have exacerbated the condition if it were there. It would not have initiated it.

Mabel Cumberland, a nurse, said that she did not think any force was applied during the operation, and Mrs. Ruth Smith, formerly an attendant at the defendants' surgery, did not think there was anything wrong about the sterilisation of instruments there.

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS TO JURY.

Mr. C. Paley Scott, K.C., for defendants, asked Mr. Justice Macnaghten to submit specific questions to the jury in his summing-up. The Judge did so, and the jury's answers were as follows:—

Was an unsterilised excavator used, and, if so, did that fact cause the osteomyelitis?—No.

Was the defendant Collins guilty of negligence in extracting three teeth on May 20, 1932?—Yes.

Did he, by that negligent extraction, cause a fracture of the plaintiff's jaw on that date?—Yes.

COUNSEL'S SUBMISSION.

After the jury had awarded damages Mr. W.A. Macfarlane (for the defendants), referring to the extractions of May 20, said: "I ask your Lordship to rule in law that there is no evidence of negligence on that occasion, in spite of the verdict of the jury."

The judge said that he could not accede to the application. "This case has been tried by a jury, and it has not been tried by me," he added. "So far as I am concerned, I must accept their verdict. The jury are of the opinion that the jaw was fractured, and that it was fractured on May 20."

After further argument, Mr. Macfarlane said: "I have made my application."

Mr. Justice Macnaghten: "And you have made it very nicely."

MOTORIST CLEARED IN COURT.

Alleged Dangerous Driving Past Tram at Golders Green.

On a charge of driving a motor car in a dangerous manner at Finchley-road, Golders Green, Oswell Barritt Binns, of 52, Ashbourne-avenue, Golders Green, appeared at Hendon Petty Sessions yesterday.

He pleaded not guilty, and was defended by Mr. G.L. Barnett.

P.C. Farley said he was on a tram-car from Golders Green to Finchley. It stopped at Hoop-lane, and a lady with two children were alighting when defendant drove between the tram and the kerb. He was travelling in the opposite direction, and crossed on to his wrong side of the road to pass the tram. The lady pushed one child on to the tram, and had picked up the other and stepped clear. The car could have got by all right, but its sudden appearance on the wrong side might have startled the lady and children, and caused an accident.

Defendant, who objected to the oath, affirmed that he was behind a tram on his side of the road. He pulled out to pass it in the ordinary way, and found that another tram in front of it blocked his normal return to the near-side. Then the tram from Golders Green met them, and he had to pull to the off-side to avoid being crushed between the trams. He did not see any passengers alighting until he approached the tail board. There was no danger, and he went on to clear the way for the passengers.

Mr. Barnett submitted that defendant did the only thing possible in a difficult situation.

The Bench dismissed the case, and the Chairman remarked upon the delay of three months in bringing the case.

Inspector Tutte said the delay was mainly due to the illness of the officer concerned.

Mr. Oswell Binns (Lib., Middlesbrough West) pointed out that the spirit behind the Bill was one of co-operation, and suggested that the present time of industrial depression was just the time for methods of co-operation to be put into force.