Nelson v. Painless Parker

Plaintiff brought this action to recover damages from the defendants for alleged malpractice. On or about the eighteenth day of February, 1918, plaintiff, who at that time was between six and seven years old, was taken by his mother to a dental office at 12th and Broadway Streets in the city of Oakland, to nave a dentist examine him. He had suffered from a severe toothache for two-nights before. The name Painless Parker Dentist appeared on the doors and windows of the office, and pictures of Dr. Painless Parker were similarly displayed. Upon examination of the boy’s mouth, the dentist in charge, Dr. E. T. Mohney, stated that two teeth were in bad shape and should be removed. With the consent of the mother he proceeded to extract the two teeth. One of them he removed from the boy’s mouth, but the other slipped out of the forceps and disappeared. Dr. Mohney searched for it, examined the boy’s mouth and put his fingers down the boy’s throat, but failed to find the missing tooth. Plaintiff immediately began choking or coughing, and the spell continued for some minutes, after which he seemed improved and was taken home. That night he had a chill and became quite sick. According to the…