The Case of Johnson vs. Misericordia Community Hospital involves a patient; Mr. Johnson. Who underwent surgery on his hip by Dr. Salinsky at the Misericordia Community hospital. Apparently, during the surgery Dr. Salinsky severed Mr. Johnson’s artery causing a permanent paralytic condition to his right thigh with resultant atrophy and weakness and loss of function. The Plaintiff brought the case to trial on grounds of negligence by the doctor. The hospital however, disputed the allegations of negligence. The court of appeals ruled in favor of the plaintiff. The big issue with the plaintiff’s claim of negligence is that the hospital was held responsible for Dr. Salinsky actions because it was up to the hospital to ensure that patients received the best care by hiring only the most competent employee, which they failed to do.
According to the account in our text, Dr. Salinsky was hired without the proper background check. It was found later that Dr. Salinsky’s application contained significant misstatements and omissions that would have otherwise, been cause for denial. Untruths, like stating that he had never been suspended, diminished, revoked, or not renewed. Yet, in another part of his application he failed to reply to the questions pertaining to his malpractice, insurance, carrier, policy number, amount of coverage, He represented that that he had requested privileges only for those surgical procedures in which he was qualified by certification.
Mrs. Bekos, testified that although it was her administrative duties to obtain all the information available regarding an applicant from all of its past hospitals on an application, she failed to make contact with any of Dr. Salinsky’s references. Mrs. Bekos, attempted to justify her actions by stating that she thought he had been a member of the medical staff prior to her employment in April of 1973, even