Decesaris v. Hallmark Health Emergency Physicians, Inc. (Summary)

NEGLIGENT RETENTION/SUPERVISION

Decesaris v. Hallmark Health Emergency Physicians, Inc.
No. 13-P-971 (Mass. App. Ct. July 29, 2014)

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The Appeals Court of Massachusetts affirmed a lower court’s judgment on directed verdicts in favor of an emergency physician group and hospital who were sued by a patient claiming that the two defendants negligently retained and supervised an emergency room doctor who was employed by the group and practiced at the hospital.

The patient was treated by the doctor at the hospital. After the patient left the hospital, the two engaged in a consensual sexual relationship that lasted approximately ten days. The patient then sued the hospital system, claiming that her relationship with the doctor caused her harm and that the group and hospital were responsible for that harm under theories of negligent supervision and negligent failure to protect. In upholding the lower court’s decision, the appellate court concluded that the defendants could not be liable for these causes of action because, at the time, they had no knowledge that the doctor had engaged in any “past acts of impropriety.” Moreover, the appellate court instructed that “[a] consensual sexual relationship generally does not give rise to a tort cause of action.”