Professional Documents
Culture Documents
vs.
FIRST DIVISION.
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SANDOVALGUTIERREZ, J.:
Hospitals, having undertaken one of mankinds most
important and delicate endeavors, must assume the grave
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116 Kan. 268 P. 752 Bernsden v. Johnson, 174 Kan. 230, 255 P. 2d 1033.
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Smith v. Zeagler, 157 So. 328 Fla. (1934), citing Ruth v. Johnson,
(C.C.A.) 172 F. 191 Reeves v. Lutz, 179 Mo. App. 61, 162 S.W. 280
Rayburn v. Day, 126 Or. 135, 68 P. 1002, 59 A.L.R. 1062 Wynne v.
Harvey, 96 Wash. 379, 165 P. 67 Harris v. Fall (C.C.A.), 177 F. 79,
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SCRA 769.
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[1957]), this Court laid down the following definition of proximate cause in
this jurisdiction as follows:
[T]hat cause, which, in natural and continuous sequence unbroken by any efficient
intervening cause, produces the injury and without which the result would not
have occurred. And more comprehensively, the proximate cause is that acting first
and producing the injury, either immediately or by setting other events in motion,
all constituting a natural and continuous chain of events, each having a close
causal connection with the immediate predecessor, the final event in the chain
immediately effecting the injury as a natural and probable result of the cause
which first acted, under which circumstances that the person responsible for the
first event should, as an ordinarily prudent and intelligent person, have
reasonable ground to expect at the moment of his act or default that an injury to
some person might probably result therefrom.
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Ramos v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 124354, December 29, 1999, 321
SCRA 584.
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Africa v. Caltex (Phils.) Inc., 123 Phil. 280 16 SCRA 448 (1966).
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Rural Educational Assn v. Bush, 42 Tenn. App. 34, 298 S.W. 2d 761
(1956).
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Contractor Physicians: A New Rule for New Times, October 17, 2005.
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Id.
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assigned tasks even though the former are not engaged in any
business or industry.
x x x x x x
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Id.
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616.
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Runyan v. Goodrum, 147 Ark. 281, 228 SW 397, 13 ALR 1403 (1921)
Rosane v. Senger, 112 Colo. 363, 149 P. 2d 372 (superseded by statute on
other grounds) Moon v. Mercy Hosp., 150 Col. 430, 373 P. 2d 944 (1962)
Austin v. Litvak, 682 P. 2d 41, 50 ALR 4th 225 (1984) Western Ins. Co. v.
(1997). But see Beeck v. Tucson General Hosp., 18 Ariz. App. 165, 500 P.
2d 1153 (1972) Paintsville Hosp. Co., 683 SW 2d 255 (1985) Kelley v.
Rossi, 395 Mass. 659, 481 NE 2d 1340 (1985) which held that a physicians
professional status does not prevent him or her from being a servant or
agent of the hospital.
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and judgment
in rendering medical services sans
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interference. Hence, when a doctor practices medicine in a
hospital setting, the hospital and its employees are deemed
to subserve him in his ministrations25to the patient and his
actions are of his own responsibility.
The case
of Schloendorff v. Society of New York
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Hospital was then considered an authority for this view.
The Schloendorff doctrine regards a physician, even if
employed by a hospital, as an independent contractor
because of the skill he exercises and the lack of control
exerted over his work. Under this doctrine, hospitals are
exempt from the application of the respondeat superior
principle for fault or negligence committed by physicians in
the discharge of their profession.
However, the efficacy of the foregoing doctrine has
weakened with the significant developments in medical
care. Courts came to realize that modern hospitals are
increasingly taking active role in supplying and regulating
medical care to patients. No longer were a hospitals
functions limited to furnishing room, food, facilities for
treatment and operation,27 and attendants for its patients.
Thus, in Bing v. Thunig, the New York Court of Appeals
deviated from the Schloendorff doctrine, noting that
modern hospitals actually do far more than provide
facilities for treatment. Rather, they regularly
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211 N.Y. 125, 105 N.E. 92, 52 L.R.A., N.S., 505 (1914). The court in
Schloendorff opined that a hospital does not act through physicians but
merely procures them to act on their own initiative and responsibility. For
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Blacks Law Dictionary (6th Ed. 1990) 1100. The terms ostensible
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quoting Arthur v. St. Peters Hospital, 169 N.J. 575, 405 A. 2d 443 (1979).
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Id., citing Hudson v. C., Loan Assn., Inc. v. Horowytz, 116 N.J.L. 605,
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Supra.
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Supra at footnote 1.
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Corleto v. Hospital, 138 N.J. Super. 302, 350 A. 2d 534 (Super. Ct.
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262 S.E. 2d 391, cert denied 300 NC 194, 269 S.E. 2d 621 (1980).
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