Annelle B. Davidson, Wife, and J. T. Davidson, Jr., Husband v. William C. Shirley, M. D.

INGRAHAM, Circuit Judge:

The appeal in this diversity case emerges from a controversy over whether the defendants were authorized to perform an abdominal hysterectomy, the removing of the uterus, on the person of plaintiff Mrs. Davidson. No question of negligence having been raised, the district court treated the matter as one of battery with the defense of consent, and, finding no disputed issue of fact, granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment based on the surgery authorization form executed by Mrs. Davidson. For the reasons set out below, we agree with the district court and…