If, in the absence of a medical man, a non-professional person is called in to assist a person taken suddenly sick, such amateur is not liable for special or slight negligence, |65| that is for the lack of that diligence and skill belonging to a professed physician; but he is liable for gross negligence (the _culpa lata_ of the Latinists), that is, the lack of the diligence and skill belonging to ordinary unprofessional persons of common sense; while, as we have seen, the physician is liable for slight negligence (_culpa levis_), if he either undertakes the case without the ordinary qualifications of a physician under such circumstances, or manages it without the ordinary skill of such a physician [147]. If a physician treats a patient without being requested so to do, he is held to a more strict account than in ordinary cases. In one instance, a medical man administered physic to a slave without the owner’s consent, and the court held him responsible for all the evil consequences which resulted [148]; and this rule is still more rigidly enforced when the volunteer by his officiousness excludes a competent practitioner who would have been otherwise obtainable. If one who is not a regular medical practitioner professes to deal with the life and health of others, he is bound to have and employ competent skill [149]. The mere fact that he renders his services gratuitously, or out of charity, does not free the practitioner from all liability. But, according to some authorities, the attendant in such cases is held to a less strict accountability than when his services are based upon an implied contract, and is liable only for gross negligence [150]. Amos, in his “Science of Law,” says, “The less the payment made in return for diligence, the less the diligence that is expected; and if no payment at all is made, as little diligence as possible is |66| usually expected, though it may be that some is.” Wharton cannot accept this doctrine from humane and other considerations [151]. And Ordronaux says that it may be considered as a received principle of law that, a physician, though rendering his services gratuitously, as in hospitals or among the out-door poor, is bound to exhibit the same degree of ordinary skill and diligence in the treatment of a patient as if he were acting under the incentive of a consideration or prospective reward. If he undertakes to execute the trust reposed in him, he is bound to do it well, or else he may be compelled to respond in damages to the party injured by his misfeasance. It is not the consideration which constitutes the foundation of his responsibility, but the fact that in voluntarily accepting the mandate, _spondet peritiam artis_, indiscriminately to all. He cannot apportion medical skill or his diligence to meet the prospective emoluments flowing out of any given case [152].