Manage Your Facility's Vicarious Liability Risk
you could be liable for the negligence of your independent contractors.
A
s you probably
know, under
the legal doc-
trine known as vicari-
ous liability, a surgical
facility can find itself
in the crosshairs of a
medical malpractice
lawsuit due to the
actions or inactions of
the employees it has
hired to its staff. That
means that a doctor, for example, may not be the only defendant in a
negligent lawsuit — a hospital or surgical center that retained the doc-
tor on its staff may be as well. But you may not be aware that vicarious
liability extends your legal responsibility to the damages caused by
non-employee patient care subcontractors as well. Read on to find out
how to manage your facility's vicarious liability risk.
It's not uncommon in the outpatient surgery arena for service
providers to be engaged as subcontractors (that is, governed by a
1099 tax status) rather than employees (W-2 tax status). Surgical
facilities can be exposed to liability by contract employees in many
positions: anesthesia providers, per-diem nurses, physician assis-
tants and physicians themselves.
Even such outsourced, external services as instrument reprocessing,
surgical equipment rental and technical consulting, and pre-owned
equipment dealers can put facilities in the hot seat. It's important for
you to understand that the business models of contract employees or
3 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J U l y 2 0 1 6
Legal Update
Keith J. Roberts, JD
• HANDS ON In medical malpractice litigation, courts have frequently found surgical facilities liable for anesthesia
providers and other contract employees.
