Raymond Lurch v. United States of America, Defendant-Third Party v. The Regents of the University of New Mexico and Ralph Kaplan, Third Party

HOLLOWAY, Circuit Judge.

This is a suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act claiming that negligence by a neurosurgeon in the employ of the Government at a Veterans’ Administration Hospital, while attempting surgical relief for severe facial pain, produced total loss of plaintiff Lurch’s hearing in his left ear with a return of the pain symptoms sought to be relieved.

The central issue is whether the physician who treated the plaintiff was an employee of the Government for purposes of the FTCA. The district court held that the physician was not a federal employee because he performed neurological…