The liability of hospitals to the patients of private attending physicians under New York law has remained essentially unchanged for almost 50 years. The liability of hospitals for the acts of employees is clear,1 as well as the liability for agents under the control of the hospital.2 Less clear, especially in the era of increased concern over protected health information, is the extent to which the hospital should intrude on the physician-patient relationship, where the attending physician is charged with the treatment decisions, by questioning those decisions.
A series of cases decided by the Court of Appeals and the Appellate Division, however, indicate that it is only where the hospital employees, on the basis of their own common knowledge and experience, are aware that an intended course of treatment is “clearly contraindicated by normal practice” that they may be under an obligation to intervene.
Scope of Hospital Duty
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