Valles v. Albert Einstein Medical Ctr.,
Nos. 10 & 11 EAP 2001 (Pa. Aug. 28, 2002)

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that a hospital cannot be held vicariously liable for the failure of a physician to obtain informed consent from a hospital patient, regardless of whether the physician was employed by the hospital or served as an independent contractor member of the medical staff. The court noted that the relationship between physicians and patients is "highly individualized and dynamic," and stated that interjecting an element of hospital control into such a relationship would be "improvident and unworkable." Therefore, the court dismissed a claim against the hospital based on allegations that physicians at the hospital had failed to obtain the patient's informed consent prior to performing an aortogram.