Harper v. Hippensteel (Summary)

PHYSICIAN LIABILITY

Harper v. Hippensteel, No. 42A04-1302-MI-95 (Ind. Ct. App. Sept. 25, 2013)

The Court of Appeals of Indiana affirmed a lower court’s decision of granting summary judgment in favor of a physician, finding that the physician did not owe a duty to a deceased patient as there was no physician-patient relationship between them. The patient’s estate filed a complaint against the physician alleging that he was negligent in providing medical care and treatment to the patient, resulting in the patient’s death. The patient had received all of his medical care and treatment from a nurse practitioner who had entered into a collaborative practice agreement (“CPA”) with the physician, in which the physician had agreed to be available to the nurse practitioner for consultation. The CPA explicitly stated that it was not intended to serve as a substitute for the nurse practitioner’s independent clinical judgment, nor did this arrangement increase the physician’s liability for decisions made by the nurse practitioner.

The court held that in medical malpractice cases, a duty arises from a physician-patient relationship and that the physician in question “did not perform any affirmative act with regard to [the patient],” and thus a physician-patient relationship was lacking. Upon examining state law and the terms of the CPA, the court further concluded that the physician did not owe a duty to the deceased patient as he had not entered into a physician-patient relationship with the patient, entitling the physician to summary judgment.