heparin lock remain in place. The court addressing the suit
found that the plaintiff's question of whether the hospital's poli-
cy of letting heparin locks remain in place for 72 hours was
appropriate in the face of evidence that an appropriate time
limit was instead 48 hours. The corporate liability claim ques-
tioned the sufficiency of the hospital policy itself, not the staff
or physician's actions.
Are you at risk?
While courts have expressly said that patients can sue hospitals if
they break one of these 4 duties, it can vary from state to state for
ambulatory surgery centers. However, a few recent cases seem to sug-
gest that the doctrine will extend to most corporate entities providing
health care.
OSM
Mr. Francis (cwfrancis@burnswhite.com) and Ms. Riley (arriley@burn-
swhite.com) are attorneys in the healthcare and long-term care group at Burns
White, where they defend hospitals, physicians and long-term care facilities in pro-
fessional and general liability litigation from the firm's Wilkes-Barre, Pa., office.
O C T O B E R 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 4 3
Under a doctrine called corporate negli-
gence, patients can sue your hospital or sur-
gical center directly if your facility breaches
any of these 4 duties:
1. A duty to use reasonable care in the
maintenance of safe and adequate facili-
ties and equipment.
2. A duty to select and retain only competent
physicians.
3. A duty to oversee all persons who practice medicine within its
walls to patient care.
4. A duty to formulate, adopt and enforce adequate
rules and policies to ensure quality care for the patients.
CORPORATE NEGLIGENCE
Your Facility's 4 Distinct Duties
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
