MALPRACTICE - VICARIOUS LIABILITY FOR INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR

Debbas v. Nelson, No. 10 September Term 2005 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. Nov. 9, 2005)

A patient's estate sued a hospital on the basis of vicarious liability after the patient died in the emergency department while being treated by several physicians. The trial court granted the hospital's motion for summary judgment on the basis that no agency relationship existed between the hospital and the physicians. This ruling was overturned, and the hospital appealed to the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, which ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, finding that since the consent form stated that physicians are hospital staff, and since one of the treating physicians was the President of the Medical Staff and Chief of Surgery, the patient could have relied on an agency relationship when she went to the hospital.