Burdell

In this action for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by plaintiff Helen E. Burdell through the negligence of defendant’s servants, the court directed a judgment for defendant, from which plaintiffs appeal.

The evidence showed that plaintiff, Mrs. Burdell, entered defendant’s hospital as a paying patient and was charged the regular rates of the hospital for the services rendered to her. The injuries complained of were alleged to have been sustained through the negligence of nurses employed by the hospital, but no evidence was offered to show that defendant was negligent in employing incompetent or careless nurses or in omitting to use due care in the selection of its staff. The articles of incorporation of defendant stated that the purpose for which it was formed was the founding and maintenance of a hospital in San Francisco for the relief and care of such sick persons as might desire its benefits, and that its object was not pecuniary profit. It also appeared from the evidence -that the hospital buildings were the gift of charitable persons to the corporation; that poor and needy persons, without distinction of race or creed, were admitted to the hospital and…