Seeking to finally put to rest what he called a “perplexing and disquieting” trend of medical malpractice defendants attempting to bar vicarious liability claims where a plaintiff failed to name a specific agent, a Lackawanna County judge reiterated what he said the Pennsylvania Superior Court held more than three years ago: no such bar exists.

In Chairge v. Geisinger Community Medical Center, plaintiff Diann Chairge filed a medical malpractice suit in the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas against Geisinger Community Medical Center (CMC) and Geisinger Clinic, alleging the defendants failed to properly treat her for a stroke. Her complaint alleged that agents of CMC and the clinic deviated from the standard of care.

The defendants, in their preliminary objections, sought to strike Chairge's agency allegations as overly vague and insufficiently specific, arguing that she was required to name the alleged agents, set forth each agent's authority and describe how each agent's negligence fell within the scope of that authority.

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