Justia Health Law Opinion Summaries

Plaintiff David Eads underwent surgery performed by a Defendant Dr. Timothy Borman, a physician whose office was in a building that Defendant Salem Hospital, a limited liability company (LLC), leased to medical providers. The surgeon performed the surgery negligently, causing Plaintiff permanent and disabling injuries. Plaintiff brought this malpractice action against the LLC landlord, as well as the surgeon and others involved in his medical treatment. Plaintiff pursued the action against the LLC on a theory of apparent agency. Specifically, Plaintiff's theory was that, through the signage on the building and other representations, the LLC created the appearance that the building housed a group medical entity of which Plaintiff's surgeon was an agent. The trial court granted summary judgment for the LLC, concluding that the evidence was legally insufficient to hold the LLC vicariously liable for the surgeon's negligence on an apparent agency theory. The Court of Appeals agreed, and affirmed. The Supreme Court granted Plaintiff's petition for review to resolve when a nonnegligent person or entity may be held vicariously liable on an apparent agency theory for physical injuries negligently inflicted by a medical professional. The Court concluded that, for such liability to arise, the injured party must have dealt with the negligent medical professional based on a reasonable belief, traceable to the putative principal's conduct or representations, that the medical professional was the principal's employee or was otherwise subject to the principal's right of control in providing the medical services that caused the injured party's injury. View "Eads v. Borman" on Justia Law

The issue in this case was whether a healthcare provider could be held liable for damages when the provider's negligence permitted the theft of its patients' personal information, though the information was never used or viewed by the thief or any other person. Plaintiffs Laurie Paul and Russell Gibson (individually and on behalf of all similarly-situated individuals) claimed economic and noneconomic damages for financial injury and emotional distress that they allegedly suffered when, through Defendant Providence Health System-Oregon's alleged negligence, computer disks and tapes containing personal information from an estimated 365,000 patients (including Plaintiffs') were stolen from the car of one of Defendant’s employees. The trial court and Court of Appeals held that Plaintiffs had failed to state claims for negligence or for violation of the Unlawful Trade Practices Act (UTPA). Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that, in the absence of allegations that the stolen information was used in any way or even was viewed by a third party, Plaintiffs did not suffer an injury that would provide a basis for a negligence claim or an action under the UTPA. View "Paul v. Providence Health System-Oregon" on Justia Law