In Longuy v. La Societe Francaise (1921) 52 Cal.App. 370, a two and a half year-old child was hospitalized with bronchial pneumonia during the great flu epidemic of 1918. ( Id. at pp. 372-373.) She had great difficulty breathing and was turning blue. A lighted alcohol inhalator, used to ease her breathing, set the bedclothes on fire. The child died 16 hours later. (Ibid.) The issue at trial was whether she had died from the burns or the pneumonia. There was conflicting testimony. The parents and undertaker testified the burns were very deep and extensive. The hospital maintained the burns were slight. The court held that two graduate nurses and two student nurses at the hospital, who had actually seen the child and were familiar with her condition, should have been permitted to testify as to the cause of her death -- whether from pneumonia or the burns. (Id. at p. 376.)