Hospital Liability For Medical Malpractice
A hospital may be 1) directly liable for malpractice, through claims of negligence in supervision of staff physicians as well as selection and retention of medical staff, or 2) vicariously liable for the negligence of its agents. Generally speaking, a hospital is not vicariously liable for the negligence of a physician who is an independent contractor and merely uses the hospital’s facilities to render treatment to his patients. However, a hospital may be vicariously liable under a theory of ostensible agency. An ostensible agency may be created when the principal intentionally or by want of ordinary care, causes a third person to believe another to be his agent who is not really employed by him.
Ostensible Agency
In the hospital context, before a recovery can be had against a principal for the alleged acts of an ostensible agent, three things must be proved: first, the person dealing with the agent must do so with belief in the agent’s authority and this belief must be a reasonable one; second, such belief must be generated by some act or neglect of the principal sought to be charged; and third, the third person relying on the agent’s apparent authority must not be guilty of negligence.
The State of Michigan Court of Appeals stated in its unpublished Per Curium opinion dated January 4, 2024 in a Michigan medical malpractice case it was reviewing: “There is nothing in the record to suggest that plaintiff relied upon any representation by Beaumont that Dr. Lonappan was its agent. On October 9, 2015, plaintiff went to Beaumont’s emergency department to seek treatment for her pain and other symptoms. Although it may reasonably be contended that plaintiff did so in reliance upon the representation that the emergency department (or “ER”) doctors were agents of Beaumont … Dr. Lonappan was not an ER doctor. In fact, Dr. Lonappan did not treat plaintiff until the day following her decision to go to Beaumont’s emergency room. It was not until then that she was referred to plaintiff [sic] pursuant to a pre-existing agreement between Hospital Consultants and her primary care physician, Dr. Bonema. In other words, while plaintiff may have relied upon Beaumont’s initial representation regarding its emergency-department doctors when she first decided to go to Beaumont, the evidence in this case indicates that she was a passive participant when she was subsequently treated by Dr. Lonappan a day later, per an agreement Dr. Lonappan’s practice group has with her physician. That is, plaintiff received medical care from whomever was assigned to her at the time by Hospital Consultants without any action by her or reliance on her part to any representation relating to Beaumont. Consequently, there is no genuine issue of material fact as to whether plaintiff relied upon Beaumont’s representation that Dr. Lonappan was its agent. Thus, the trial court correctly granted summary disposition in favor of Beaumont on this issue.”
Source Markel v. William Beaumont Hospital, COA No. 350655.
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