A Chink in the Armor? Liability of Hospitals for Physician Negligence in Light of Sampson v. Baptist Memorial Hospital System

Abstract

Texas courts have traditionally held that doctors are independent contractors of the hospitals where they are medical staff doctors and that no employer/employee or agency relationship exists between them. For this reason, physicians generally are responsible for their own professional negligence. Recently, however, the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio issued an opinion that could make hospitals liable for the negligence of certain physicians, despite this established rule. In Sampson v. Baptist Memorial Hospital System, the court suggested that hospitals have a nondelegable duty to provide emergency room physicians, thus rendering hospitals liable for the negligence of emergency room physicians. This rule, if eventually adopted as the law in Texas, promises to have widespread effects on the relationship between hospitals and physicians. This article examines the traditional relationship between hospitals and physicians, the Sampson case in particular, and what the future may hold if the Sampson ruling is adopted.