Hospital Found Liable for Negligence of Contracted Perfusionist

At the age of 2 months Gary Juliana was diagnosed with a heart murmur, and his parents consented to open-heart surgery to correct the defect. Unfortunately, Gary suffered severe permanent injury when the flow of oxygen to his brain was interrupted during the procedure due to critical mistakes on the part of the contracted perfusionist.

The Juliana's filed suit against the hospital. The hospital filed a request for summary judgment, arguing that it could not be held liable for the perfusionist's error because the perfusionist was the employee of a contracted group, not an employee of the hospital.

However, the trial court found, and the court of appeals affirmed, that the hospital was "clearly liable as a matter of law for the negligence of its sub-contractor." It also noted that perfusionists could not work at the hospital without the prior approval of the department of surgery, and that they were credentialed in accordance with the hospital's bylaws.

The court awarded a 10.8 million dollar judgment against the hospital, and the family settled with the perfusionist out of court for 2 million dollars.

References:

Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinic Inc. v Juliana, Case # 1002-1530, Ct of Appeals of Florida, 1st Dist, 2003 Fla. App. Lexis 10157
http://opinions.1dca.org/written/opinions2003/7-08-03/02-1530.pdf

Law and Ethics for Medical Careers, Fourth Edition, Judson, Harrsion, Hicks