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Casebook Read Credits
Torts - Spring 2016 full version
Resource 23 . 5 . 2 . 6
15 minutes

Baptist Memorial Hospital System v. Sampson

Samantha Bates,
Jonathan Zittrain

Appellee was bitten by a venomous spider. She was taken to the emergency room in the appellant's hospital. The emergency room physician misdiagnosed the venomous bite as an allergic reaction. Fourteen hours later, with her condition rapidly deteriorating, appellee went to another hospital where she was admitted to the intensive care unit in septic shock. There, appellee received the proper treatment which saved her life. Appellee sued the appellant on a theory of vicarious liability, as the emergency room physicians were not employees as a matter of law. Should hospitals be liable for the misdiagnoses of physicians that they hire as independent contractors?

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