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Wolbers v. Finley Hospital12/17/2003
laim was based on the hospital staff's alleged failure to adequately treat the condition that existed, whatever its cause. Under the court's instructions, the jury was required to so find in order to allow recovery. Thus, this case is analogous to cases cited in DeMoss in which the patient's negligence created a condition that a physician negligently failed to treat at a later time. The district court correctly declined to give a jury instruction on comparative negligence.
II. Whether the District Court Properly Submitted the Issue of Vicarious Liability to the Jury
The hospital asserts it could not be liable under the theory of vicarious liability, as it is prohibited by law from practicing medicine. It further asserts that, while a corporation is responsible for the acts of its employees, it cannot be liable, nor did it have the right, to direct or control the manner in which its employee doctor practiced medicine.
Dr. Webb was an employee of Finley Hospital at the time he treated Mr. Wolbers. Under the terms of his employment agreement, he agreed to follow the guidelines for performance of the duties of an emergency physician at the hospital and to comply with the medical staff bylaws and rules of procedure. Dr. Webb further acknowledged that the hospital had established procedures and guidelines with respect to emergency medicine and that he would perform in conformance with those guidelines. The hospital further retained the right to terminate Dr. Webb's employment if he failed to follow the hospital's guidelines for performance.
Ordinarily, a claim of vicarious liability under the doctrine of respondeat superior in an employment situation rests on two elements: proof of an employer/employee relationship and proof that the injury occurred within the scope of that employment. Biddle v. Sartori Mem'l Hosp., 518 N.W.2d 795, 797 (Iowa 1994). Nevertheless, the hospital argues that it cannot be vicariously liable for Dr. Webb's medical judgments because it had no right to control them. It relies on Iowa Code section 147.2 (1999) in support of its argument. That section states in relevant part:
A person shall not engage in the practice of medicine and surgery nursing... unless the person has obtained from the department a license for that purpose.
Iowa Code § 147.2.
The matter of control as to the details of the work is an important element of a master-servant relationship, see Restatement (Second) of Agency § 220(2)(a) (1958) [hereinafter Restatement]. However, the relationship of master and servant is not the only agency status that supports vicarious liability. See Wiedmeyer v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc'y, 644 N.W.2d 31, 34 (Iowa 2002) (owner of shopping center who entrusted details of management to management company held vicariously liable for omissions of management company). Other principal and agent situations exist in which the principal may agree not to exercise a right of control and still maintain an agency relationship. Restatement § 14(a).
We are convinced the hospital's relationship to Dr. Webb was such as to render it vicariously liable for his negligence in carrying out the hospital's emergency-response function. A hospital impliedly holds out to patients seeking care that its emergency-response staff will competently handle emergency situations in the absence of the patient's personal physicians. This situation has been described as follows:
A hospital has an absolute duty to its emergency-room patients to provide competent medical care, a duty which cannot be delegated. Thus, a hospital may be vicariously liable for the negligence of its emergency-room caregivers, even if they
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