Hospitals That Vest Contract Doctors With ‘Apparent Authority’ May Be Held Liable
A New Jersey appeals court on Wednesday opened the door wide to malpractice liability for hospitals that use contract doctors in circumstances that lead patients to believe they are staff physicians. By keeping mum about a doctor’s status as a contractor, a hospital vests the doctor with “apparent authority” and the patient may be presumed to have accepted care in the reasonable belief that the
