Magriz v. St. Barnabas Hosp.

Medical Malpractice

Magriz v. St. Barnabas Hosp., 2007 N.Y. Slip. Op. 06444 (N.Y.A.D. Aug. 16, 2007)

The Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, dismissed a patient’s malpractice suit against a hospital, holding that because the patient’s claims against the individual physicians who treated her in the hospital’s emergency room were barred by the statute of limitations, it necessarily followed that any related cause of action against the hospital based on the doctrine of employer liability must also be dismissed. The court noted that "while a hospital may be vicariously liable for acts of independent physicians where a patient enters the hospital through the emergency room, and seeks treatment from the hospital rather than a particular physician, such rationale presupposes that the patient has a viable cause of action against the physicians who treated her."