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Robinson v. Health Midwest Development Group3/6/2001
chologist or other health care professional knows or pursuant to the standards of his profession should have known that a patient presents a serious danger of future violence to a readily identifiable victim the psychologist has a duty under Missouri common law to warn the intended victim or communicate the existence of such danger to those likely to warn the victim including notifying appropriate enforcement authorities. Id. at 312.
Although in Millard the court was not confronted with whether a physician could be liable to a third party for the negligent medical care or treatment of a patient, as in this case, it did address the general issue of a physician's liability to a member of the general public. 14 S.W.3d at 47. In Millard, the plaintiff sought damages from the surgeon who was scheduled to be on call at the hospital for emergencies, but who was not on call the night she was transported there for treatment of serious injuries she had sustained as a result of a motor vehicle accident. Id. at 45-46. Although not a patient, the plaintiff alleged that the surgeon was liable to her in negligence for the damages she sustained as a result of the delay in her treatment and care. Id. at 46. In this regard, she further alleged that, had the defendant notified the hospital that he would not be on call as scheduled, either a substitute surgeon would have been available or the plaintiff would have been transported to a different facility, such that her treatment and care would have not been delayed and her injuries would not have been exacerbated. Id. at 48. In reversing the trial court's summary judgment for the defendant physician based on a lack of a duty owed to the plaintiff, the court in Millard held that a duty from a physician to the general public could be found by a reasonable fact finder based on the public policy considerations enunciated in Hoover's Dairy. Id. at 47. Millard teaches us then that the liability of a physician does not depend solely on a physician-patient relationship being established, but that a duty to the general public can be found based on the public policy considerations enunciated in Hoover's Dairy. Id.
Based on our reading of the foregoing cases, we believe that the issue of whether a health care provider, specifically a physician, has a duty to the general public to warn a patient not to drive while impaired due to taking a prescribed medication is an open question. In addressing this question, we think it is instructive to first discuss whether such a duty is owed to the patient, since the two are logically intertwined. It is well-settled in this state that a physician has a duty to exercise that degree of skill and learning toward his patient which other physicians use under the same or similar circumstances, and which, if breached, forms the basis for a medical malpractice claim. Sheffler, 950 S.W.2d at 267. Thus, it can be said that our appellate courts have recognized that, as a matter of public policy, the special relationship existing between a physician and patient gives rise to a duty of care from the physician to the patient. The question is whether that duty of care includes a duty to a patient to warn the patient of the risks associated with certain activities while under the influence of a prescription drug. Although our courts have not expressly decided this issue, they have impliedly recognized such a duty in related circumstances. For example, Missouri courts adhere to the "learned intermediary doctrine," which provides that a manufacturer of prescription drugs discharges its duty to warn about the unknown risks associated with its products by providing the information to the physician, which is deemed a warning to the patient. Doe v. Alpha Therapeutic
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