The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that hospitals are vicariously liable for the negligence of non-employee doctors working in a hospital, where the patient arrives at the hospital through the emergency room; even if there is a consent form generally disclaiming that some treating physicians are not employees of the hospital.
In a win for McKeen & Associates, appellate attorney Kiersten J. Reinhold, the Court vacated the trial court’s grant of summary dismissal and held that plaintiffs successfully established a question of fact regarding whether the patient dealing with the non-employee doctor did so with the reasonable belief that the doctor was an agent of the hospital. The patient in the case arrived at the hospital through the emergency room, postoperatively developed breathing difficulties, and then was assigned a doctor to treat her for those breathing difficulties. So, the Court of Appeals held that there was a question of fact sufficient to withstand summary dismissal unless the hospital could prove that the patient was advised and understood that her treating physician was, in fact, not an employee.
Despite the hospital’s arguments to the contrary, the consent form that the patient signed upon arrival at the hospital did not include language demonstrating that the patient was advised and understood that the non-employee doctor treating her breathing difficulties was not an employee of the hospital.
This decision reinforces that hospitals have a duty to advise and ensure that patients understand when doctors assigned to an emergency patients’ care are not employees of the hospital.