Cline

Appellants, surviving husband and four minor children of one Nancy Cline (hereinafter “decedent”), appeal from a judgment in favor of Anthony Lund, M.D., and the Los Gatos-Saratoga Community Hospital, in an action for medical malpractice. A pivotal issue arises out of the trial court’s refusal of conditional res ipsa loquitur instructions that appellants requested. Bearing in mind that one of the key issues herein is whether the trial court erred in refusing a conditional res ipsa loquitur instruction, there is substantial evidence to establish the following facts:

Decedent had a history of female problems. In early June 1967, her family physician, William Kuhlman, M.D., referred her to respondent Anthony Lund, M.D., a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology. Dr. Lund scheduled decedent for a diagnostic dilatation and curettage and frozen section with examination under anesthesia, and for an exploratory laparotomy with excision of a left ovarian cyst and possible hysterectomy, if warranted. Decedent entered the hospital on July 9, 1967. Her entrance examination revealed a blood pressure of 110/72 and a normal complete blood count. She was 29 and in general good health.…