Goodwin v. Hertzberg’s Empirical Analysis
201 F.2d 204 · 1952
Citation profile
16 federal appellate · 3 district · 19 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 40 later decisions — most recently April 1992 · most notably Canterbury v. Spence (1972), Washington Hospital Center v. Robert Butler, Administrator of the Estate of Beatrice H. Butler, Deceased, James E. Wissler v. Robert Butler, Administrator of the Estate of Beatrice H. Butler, Deceased (1967)
16 federal appellate · 3 district · 19 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Shewmaker v. Capital Transit Co. · Christie v. Callahan · Byrom v. Eastern Dispensary & Casualty Hospital
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 40 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Malpractice is hard to prove. The physician has all of the advantage of position. He is, presumably, an expert. The patient is a layman. The physician knows what is done and what is its significance. The patient may or may not know what is done. He seldom knows its significance. He judges chiefly by results. The physician has the patient in his confidence, disarmed against suspicion. Physicians like lawyers, are loath to testify a fellow craftsman has been negligent, especially when he is highly reputable in professional character, as are these defendants. In short, the physician has the advantage of knowledge and of proof. This increases when he is a specialist. What therefore might be slight evidence when there is no such advantage, as in ordinary negligence cases, takes on greater weight in malpractice suits.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.