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The Emerging Trend Of Corporate Liability: Courts' Uneven Treatment Of Hospital Standards Leaves Hospitals Uncertain And Exposed, David H. Rutchik

Vanderbilt Law Review

Under the doctrine of hospital corporate liability, a hospital has a nondelegable, direct duty to provide adequate care to all of its patients.' This duty is not a product of a master-servant or a principal-agent relationship, nor is hospital tort liability predicated on a showing of vicarious liability, because the hospital's liability flows directly from the hospital to its patients. Consequently, a hospital may be liable for the negligent act of an independent staff physician, even if that physician is an independent contractor. The corporate liability, or corporate negligence, doctrine thus extends potential liability beyond the sphere of respondeat superior. …