In July 1965, wealthy Bahamian negro Ortland H. Bodie Sr. checked himself into the Osteopathic General Hospital in Florida, for a routine hernia operation. In 1970, he would later claim, as testimony in a negligence lawsuit filed against the hospital and doctors, that during the operation, his spermatic cord and a testicle were removed.
Bodie said that he did not give consent to having his testicle removed. Both hospital and operating doctors, in the legal action brought before the court, were said by Bodie, to have performed an unauthorised trespass upon his body.
Bodie’s negligence suit asked for damages in the amount of $5,000.
During the brief court proceedings, Mr. Ortland H. Bodie Sr. noted that in the five years between the operation, in 1965 and the matter coming before the courts, in 1970, he had earned an income of $700,000. Bodie said that he didn’t really need the money asked for as compensatory damages in the lawsuit.
(The Miami News, Wednesday, 18 February 1970)
1970 – JUDGE IN ORTLAND H. BODIE Sr. WRONGFUL TESTICLE REMOVAL CIVIL SUIT STOPS CASE BASED ON INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
Despite O. H. Bodie Sr. providing irrefutable evidence that his testicle was removed, Circuit Judge Jack Falk ordered a directed verdict of acquittal for both hospital and operating doctors.
Judge Falk rendered his decision based on insufficient evidence to prove that carelessness, negligence or improper surgical procedure took place in 1965.
Bodie contended that his hernia operation on July 14, 1965 resulted in the loss of his testicle four days later.
The hospital and doctors countered that Ortland H. Bodie Sr. started bleeding after the hernia operation. His blood supply became diminished and removal of the testicle was necessary given the circumstances.
