Court Affirms Summary Judgment Granted To Hospital On Ostensible Agency Theory: Elisa Magallanes de Valle brought a medical malpractice action against Dr. Rebecca Brock (her personal treating physician), Golden Valley Health Centers, and Doctors Medical Center of Modesto (“DMC”), after suffering complications and injuries as a result of a hysterectomy procedure performed by her physician at Doctors Medical Center of Modesto. The California medical malpractice complaint alleged a single cause of action, medical negligence, as to all defendants. Potential liability on the part of Doctors Medical Center of Modesto was premised primarily on an ostensible or apparent agency theory.
The trial court evaluated the relevant record and determined it was indisputable that “Plaintiff knew or should have known that Dr. Brock was not employed by Defendant.” The trial court further concluded that Magallanes’s medical malpractice claim against DMC (based on an ostensible or apparent agency theory) was therefore precluded as a matter of law and granted DMC’s motion for summary judgment. Magallanes appealed, arguing that “DMC [is] liable for Dr. Brock’s negligence under a theory of ostensible agency,” and challenged the trial court’s determinations and disposition.
The Court of Appeal of the State of California Fifth Appellate District (“California Appellate Court”) stated in its Opinion filed on June 24, 2022: “Given the foregoing undisputed facts, this was not a situation where Magallanes “looked to the hospital” for surgical care and relied on the hospital’s selection or assignment of a doctor to identify and render appropriate treatment. (See Markow, supra, 3 Cal.App.5th at p. 1038.) In other words, Magallanes, a pre-existing patient of Dr. Brock, did not rely on an apparent agency relationship between DMC and Dr. Brock in seeking and receiving surgical care from Dr. Brock. Rather, Magallanes, herself chose Dr. Brock as her treating physician and elected to undergo the procedure at issue under the guidance of Dr. Brock and on the condition that it would be performed by Dr. Brock. These undisputed facts conclusively establish that, under the circumstances, Magallanes reasonably should have known that Dr. Brock was not an agent of the hospital; rather, she utilized the hospital’s surgical facilities to provide surgical care to her own patients. (See, e.g., Markow, supra, 3 Cal.App.5th at p. 1041.) Magallanes’s statement at deposition to the effect that, “if you get sent [to a hospital], you just assume [your preexisting and preselected physician] works there,” does not affect our analysis.”
The California Appellate Court held: “The trial court correctly determined the undisputed facts established, as a matter of law, that Magallanes reasonably should have known that Dr. Brock was not DMC’s agent. Further, the court appropriately concluded that Magallanes’s medical malpractice claim against DMC, a claim that was premised on an ostensible agency theory, was foreclosed as a matter of law. The court therefore properly granted summary judgment in favor of DMC.”
Court Affirms Summary Judgment Granted To Hospital On Ostensible Agency Theory: Elisa Magallanes de Valle v. Doctors Medical Center of Modesto, F082099.
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