Rule 805: Hearsay within hearsay.

Hearsay within hearsay is not excluded under the hearsay rule if each part of the combined statements conforms with an exception to the hearsay rule provided in these rules or otherwise by law.

 Advisory Commission Comments.

The rule provides that out-of-court statement containing several levels of hearsay and multiple declarants is nonetheless admissible if a hearsay exception applies to each declarant's statement. Also, while not covered here, a particular declarant's statement in the chain may be admissible as nonhearsay.

Often hospital records contain a nurse's notation that a patient said something to the nurse. In that instance a court must deal with two hearsay declarations. The nurse's notation is admissible as a business record to the extent of showing what words were spoken. The patient's statement may then be admissible under the admissions exception to the declarations of physical condition exception.