Lownsbury v. VanBuren,

Lownsbury v. VanBuren,
No. 00-1655 (Ohio Feb. 20, 2002)

The Ohio Supreme Court held that a physician-patient relationship (and thus
a duty) can be established between a physician who contracts, agrees, undertakes,
or otherwise assumes the obligation to provide resident supervision at a teaching
hospital and a hospital patient with whom the supervising physician had no direct
or indirect contact. Whether the physician actually breached that duty depends
on the language in the contract, specifically what duties the physician agreed
to assume. After reviewing all relevant documents, the testimony of other hospital
physicians and residents that the supervising physician has no responsibility
to a hospital patient unless and until he is contacted by a resident, and the
testimony of experts for the plaintiffs to the contrary, the court concluded
that, in this case, there was sufficient evidence for a jury to decide the question
either way and reversed and remanded the case for further proceedings.