Ohio Medical Malpractice Litigation Update

A very important decision by the Ohio Supreme Court protects Ohio citizens who are injured by negligent physicians. In Clark vs. Southview Hospital and Family Health Center, the Ohio Supreme Court changed the law governing the liability of hospitals for the negligence of physicians working in the hospital. A legal doctrine called Respondeat Superior holds the hospital responsible for negligent acts of physicians working in the hospital.
If a patient goes to a hospital based upon the hospital's reputation in the community as a provider of medical services, and is injured by a physician who treats the patient at the hospital, the hospital is liable together with the doctor.
The court's reasoning is sound. When we rely on a hospital which holds itself out to the public as a provider of medical services, and we look to the hospital, as opposed to the individual practioner, to provide competent medical care, then the hospital should be responsible for the malpractice of the doctors working within it.
Therefore, because of this 1994 Ohio supreme Court decision, not only the specific physician but the hospital itself can be responsible for medical malpractice. This is a clear example of the Ohio Supreme Court protecting its citizens. Because of this decision, medical malpractice victims injured by a physician who has very little, or no, medical malpractice insurance can now also look to the hospital for compensation.