Can I Sue a Hospital for Medical Malpractice?

Suppose you're injured while being treated at a hospital. Can you sue the hospital for medical malpractice? The short answer is: It depends on who caused your injury. Hospitals can be on the hook for negligent care provided by employees like nurses and medical technicians, but they're usually not responsible for a doctor's malpractice.

Let's take a closer look at when a hospital is (and isn't) legally responsible for negligent medical care provided by employees, doctors, and others.

(Learn more about medical malpractice claims and settlements, and common types of malpractice errors.)

Hospitals Are Responsible for Their Employees' Actions

As a general rule, an employer is legally responsible for its employees' on-the-job actions. This legal rule has a fancy-sounding name—respondeat superior—meaning "let the superior answer." Under this rule, an employee's work-related carelessness can mean their employer has to pay for resulting injuries.

Respondeat superior applies to hospital employees. In other words, if a hospital employee injures a patient by providing negligent (not reasonably careful) medical care, the hospital is probably liable, or legally responsible, for the patient's injuries and damages. Typically, nurses, medical technicians, and support staff are hospital employees.

For example, suppose a hospital-employed registered nurse (R.N.) negligently injects the wrong medication into a patient's IV, causing the patient to suffer an injury. The hospital is probably liable for the R.N.'s carelessness. (Learn more about nursing malpractice.)

Different Rules Probably Apply to Doctors

By contrast, if a doctor makes the same mistake as the nurse in our last example—negligently injecting a patient with the wrong drug—the hospital might not be legally responsible. Why? Chances are the doctor isn't a hospital employee, but what the law calls an "independent contractor." We'll talk more about this below.

Things get a bit tricky when a hospital employee commits malpractice while working under a doctor's supervision. This can cause problems because it might not be clear who's actually controlling the employee's work. Whether an employee was working under a doctor's supervision when the negligence happened will depend, at least in part, on:

• whether the doctor was present, and
• whether the doctor had enough control over the treatment to prevent the employee's negligence.

The hospital and the doctor (or more likely, their insurance companies) will fight over who had the authority to control what the employee did. Depending on the facts, the hospital, the doctor, or both might be in trouble. The good news is, this isn't the patient's fight. The patient will sue both of them and let their malpractice insurers sort it out.

Finally, keep in mind that not every mistake or bad outcome equals medical malpractice. Sometimes bad things happen even with the best of care. (Learn more about the elements of medical malpractice.)

Is the Doctor a Hospital Employee?

The answer to that question goes a long way toward deciding whether the hospital is legally responsible when a doctor negligently injures a patient. While some doctors are hospital employees, most are, in the eyes of the law, "independent contractors." Generally speaking, an employer (including a hospital) isn't liable for an independent contractor's negligence.

The Independent Contractor Test

Whether a doctor is a hospital employee or an independent contractor depends on the nature of their relationship. The legal "test," so to speak, is whether the hospital has the power to control the way the doctor provides medical services, including such details as when and how those services are performed. Courts look at several factors to decide on the nature of the relationship.

Hospitals Want Independent Contractor Relationships

Today, it's a common practice for hospitals to structure independent contractor relationships with medical groups. A hospital's emergency department, anesthesiology, radiology, and other departments are probably staffed with independent contractors from outside medical groups. It's a quick and inexpensive way for hospitals to try to avoid malpractice exposure.

If you're treated in a hospital and you get a separate bill for services from the doctor's office, that's a good indication that the hospital treats the doctor as an independent contractor.

When Hospitals May Be Liable for Non-Employee Doctors' Actions

There are exceptions to the general rule of hospital non-liability for a doctor's negligence. Here are a couple of important ones that might apply in a hospital malpractice case.

Hospital Appeared to Be the Doctor's Employer

To benefit from the independent contractor liability shield, a hospital must make it clear to patients that the doctor isn't an employee. Typically, hospitals include independent contractor disclosures in admission paperwork and related informed consent forms. Absent sufficient disclosures, the law might treat the doctor as an employee.

Providing the necessary disclosures can be a problem in an emergency department. When a patient arrives with a life-threatening condition or is unconscious, there's no time to waste on these details. As a result, it's more likely that an emergency department patient can sue the hospital for a doctor's negligence.

In a few states, the law says that a hospital can be sued for emergency department malpractice regardless of what the patient believed or was told. (Learn more about medical malpractice during emergencies.)

Hospital Keeps an Incompetent Doctor on Staff

Several states hold a hospital responsible if it gives staff privileges to an incompetent or dangerous doctor, even if the doctor is an independent contractor. The hospital can also be responsible if it should have known that a previously safe doctor had become incompetent or dangerous.

Suppose, for example, that a doctor is abusing alcohol or drugs and hospital management knows about it, or it was so obvious they should have known about it. The hospital doesn't revoke the doctor's staff privileges and a patient is injured by the doctor's substandard care. The patient probably can sue both the doctor and the hospital.

Get Help With Your Hospital Malpractice Case

Malpractice cases of any kind—including those against a hospital—are among the most difficult of all personal injury claims. States have enacted special procedural (and other) rules, and malpractice claims often involve complicated facts and legal issues. On top of all that, doctors, hospitals, and their insurers will put up a vigorous fight, often to trial and beyond.

If you're thinking about filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, you'll want expert legal help on your side. Here's how to find an experienced malpractice lawyer in your area.