LIABILITIES 73 



that the skill and care required of a physician are 

 proportionate to his expectation of pecuniary 

 recompense. Such a rule would be of the most 

 mischievous consequence; would make the health 

 and life of the indigent the sport of reckless experi- 

 ment and cruel indifference. " ^ In one case it was 

 held that where services are rendered gratuitously 

 physicians are liable only for gross negligence.*^ 

 These two cases should be read together, for 

 clearly both of them are just. The poor man 

 should not be subject to wanton experimentation; 

 on the other hand a physician giving gratuitous 

 service should have more of the benefit of the 

 doubt where there is a question as to his negli- 

 gence. 



Similar rules apply in veterinary practice. A 

 competent veterinarian, trying to aid a poor neigh- 

 bor by giving him professional service, should not 

 be held so strictly to account for failure to keep 

 watch of the case, as where he has been definitely 

 employed. In other words, the fact that he has 

 given one call should not, in the absence of clear 

 evidence to the contrary, presume to be the as- 

 sumption of a contract in which he agrees to con- 

 tinue to give his service without compensation. 

 The contract presupposes two sides, and such a 

 contract would have only one side. On the other 

 hand, simply because he is giving his service does 

 not entitle the veterinarian to experiment at the 

 expense of his poor neighbor, and if there has 

 been any gross negligence, or a clear departure 



8 Becker v. Janinski, 15 N. Y. 385. Shearman & Kedfield, 

 Sup. 675, 27 Abb. N. C. 45. Negligence, 432. 



sRitchey v. West. 23 111. 



