Carmichael

Plaintiff Vira Dee Mae Carmichael and her husband Richard Carmichael brought this action for damages against defendants James Reitz, M.D., J. G. Dahlquist, M.D., the Harriman-Jones Medical Clinic, and G. D. Searle & Company, a corporation (hereinafter “Searle”), for pulmonary embolisms and thrombophlebitis allegedly caused by Dr. Reitz’s having prescribed the drug Enovid, manufactured and marketed by Searle, in treating plaintiff for endometriosis.

A motion for nonsuit made by defendants Dr. Reitz, Dr. Dahlquist, and the Harriman-Jones Medical Clinic upon plaintiff resting her case in chief was granted and a judgment of nonsuit entered. Plaintiff appeals from this judgment only insofar as it concerns defendant Dr. Reitz.

The trial was completed as to Searle and the jury returned a verdict in its favor. Plaintiff also appeals from the judgment entered on the verdict.

Since the issues raised by the respective appeals are disparate except as the negligence, if any, on the part of Dr. Reitz might bear upon the issue of proximate causation in the case against Searle, and since the evidence to be considered on the disparate issues is not the same, we treat the two appeals…