Jenkins v. Best, No. 2006-CA-0012787-MR (Ky. Ct. App. Sept. 28, 2007)

The Court of Appeals of Kentucky affirmed summary judgment in favor of a physician who was sued for malpractice after declining to treat a patient while on call because the physician was busy at a second hospital where she was also on call. The patient's child suffered severe brain injury as a result of delayed treatment. The court held that since the physician never accepted the patient, nor made any attempt to direct her treatment, there was no patient-physician relationship and, accordingly, no duty for the physician to treat the patient.

The court reversed summary judgment that had been granted to the physician's practice group, however. The group had a contract to provide 24-hour perinatology coverage to the hospital. The court held that the contract created a duty on the part of the group to provide medical services to the patient because the injury to the patient was foreseeable. According to the court: "We are convinced that the predicament of under staffing, resulting in [the physician's] inability to perform services for [the patient], was entirely foreseeable by [the group]."