Opinion ID: 782823
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Medical Malpractice/Negligence

Text: 101 The trial court correctly determined that, as a general matter, medical malpractice encompasses the breach of a duty which a physician, by virtue of his or her relationship to the patient, owes to exercise reasonable care in treatment. Order Granting County Health Department's Motion for Summary Judgment, dated May 16, 2001, at 4, App. 190, citing Daniels v. Gilbreath, 668 F.2d 477, 488 (10th Cir.1982). A physician-patient relationship is essential to a medical malpractice action. See generally Greenberg v. Perkins, 845 P.2d 530, 534-36 (Colo.1993) ( en banc ) (surveying and collecting state and federal cases so holding); cf. Johnson v. Fine, 45 P.3d 441, 445 (Okla.Ct.App. 2002) (declining to extend malpractice actions beyond the immediate doctor-patient relationship). On appeal, the plaintiffs do not challenge the district court's dismissal of this claim as to CAP. 102 With regard to the conduct of the nurses in this case the existence of a physician-patient relationship is immaterial because, as the plaintiffs' own expert points out, neither Strayhorn nor Baker deviated from the requisite standard of care. The examinations conformed to standards for well-child examinations and, as discussed above, they followed customary industry practices in relying on the representations of CAP that consent for the examinations had been given. It is true that the plaintiffs' expert testified that the consent forms themselves were insufficient, but this does not change the fact that Baker, Strayhorn, and the County Health Department were acting reasonably and within the norms of industry practice when they relied upon CAP's representations. The district court's decision regarding medical malpractice/negligence is therefore affirmed.