Wickoff

Plaintiffs above named, husband and wife, commenced an action against defendants to recover damages for alleged malpractice. At the conclusion of plaintiffs’ evidence the court granted defendants’ motion for a nonsuit, and judgment was entered thereon. Plaintiffs made a motion for a new trial, which was denied, and plaintiffs then made a motion to vacate and set aside the judgment of nonsuit and to declare the judgment null and void. The latter motion was made upon the ground that Judge King was disqualified to sit and act in the case. Both the motion for a new trial and the motion to vacate the judgment were heard by a judge other than Judge King and were denied. Plaintiffs have appealed from the judgment of nonsuit and from the order denying their motion to vacate the judgment.

On January 6, 1954, Mrs. Wickoff, who at the time was 39 years of age, entered the St. Helena Sanitarium and Hospital for the purpose of having a rectosigmoid polyp, a wartlike growth, removed from the lower portion of the large intestine adjacent to and immediately above the rectum. The operation was performed by Dr. James who, it is admitted, was an employee of the hospital. After an operation such as…