The Washington state Supreme Court ruled earlier this year to hold hospitals accountable for medical errors committed by independent contractors, a Seattle-based law firm said Sept. 10.
The ruling follows years of litigation surrounding a patient's death at Samaritan Hospital in Moses Lake, Wash., according to court documents obtained by Becker's. The court made the ruling April 11.
The patient, Cindy Essex, arrived at Samaritan's emergency department in June 2015 with pain in her left shoulder, chest and abdomen, according to court documents. An independent contractor physician evaluated Ms. Essex and another independent contractor, a radiologist, interpreted her CT scans.
She was then transferred to Central Washington Hospital, where she received the diagnosis of necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease, and later died.
The family of Ms. Essex sued Samaritan Healthcare, claiming medical negligence and wrongful death based on a missed necrotizing fasciitis diagnosis.
The main question for the state's Supreme Court was whether Samaritan could be held liable for the negligence of nonemployee physicians providing emergency services. It ruled all Washington hospitals can be held liable — reversing legal precedent that had been upheld since the 1970s, according to the Luvera Law Firm, which represented the Essex family.
"The decision sets a new precedent for hospital liability cases in Washington state after decades of antiquated standards in medical malpractice law that allowed hospitals to deflect blame onto individual doctors, citing the technicality that they are independent contractors and not hospital employees," the medical malpractice firm said.
With this opinion, the case is returning to trial court.
"We respect the Supreme Court's opinion, ultimately it has no significant impact on the outcome of the case," a spokesperson for Samaritan Healthcare told Becker's.