Opinion ID: 2148949
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Is the tort of negligent credentialing inherent in, or the natural extension of, a well-established common law right?

Text: Amici curiae, Minnesota Hospital Association, et al. (MHA), argue that a claim for negligent credentialing is at odds with the common law of vicarious liability in Minnesota, which makes hospitals liable for the negligence of employees, but does not regard independent physicians as employees merely because they are granted hospital privileges. [2] But the Larsons argue that the tort of negligent credentialing is not a vicarious liability claim, but rather is grounded in a hospital's direct liability at common law under its duty to exercise reasonable care in the provision of health services and its duty to protect patients from harm by third persons. Amicus curiae, Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association (MDLA), argues that hospital credentialing is aimed at protecting the general public and the hospital itself, not a particular class of persons, and that under Cracraft v. City of St. Louis Park, 279 N.W.2d 801 (Minn.1979), breach of a duty owed to the general public cannot be the basis of liability. They also argue that this court has never recognized a special duty between a hospital and a patient outside the context of direct patient services. But we have recognized that hospitals owe a duty of care directly to patients to protect them from harm by third persons. In Sylvester v. Northwestern Hospital of Minneapolis, we held that a hospital had a duty to protect a patient from another intoxicated patient. 236 Minn. 384, 389-90, 53 N.W.2d 17, 20-21 (1952). We quoted from the Restatement of Torts § 320 (1934) as follows: One who    voluntarily takes the custody of another under circumstances such as to deprive the other of his normal power of self-protection or to subject him to association with persons likely to harm him, is under a duty of exercising reasonable care so to control the conduct of third persons as to prevent them from intentionally harming the other or so conducting themselves as to create an unreasonable risk of harm to him, if the actor, (a) knows or has reason to know that he has the ability to control the conduct of the third persons, and (b) knows or should know of the necessity and opportunity for exercising such control. Id. at 387, 53 N.W.2d at 19. In Erickson v. Curtis Inv. Co., we cited Sylvester and noted that the duty to protect in the innkeeper/guest and common carrier/passenger relationship is analogous to that in the hospital/patient relationship. 447 N.W.2d 165, 168 (Minn.1989). We have also noted that a hospital has a duty to its patients to provide a sufficient number of attendants as the patients' safety may require. Mulliner v. Evangelischer Diakonniessenverein of the Minn. Dist. of the German Evangelical Synod of N. Am., 144 Minn. 392, 394, 175 N.W. 699, 699-700 (1920). Two other generally recognized common law torts also support recognition of the tort of negligent credentialing. The claim of negligent credentialing is analogous to a claim of negligent hiring of an employee, which has been recognized in Minnesota. See Ponticas v. K.M.S. Invs., 331 N.W.2d 907, 909-11 (Minn.1983) (recognizing a claim for negligent hiring brought by a tenant against the owner of her apartment complex after the tenant was raped by the apartment manager who had a criminal record which included burglary and armed robbery). See also Restatement (Second) of Agency § 213 (1958) (A person conducting an activity through servants or other agents is subject to liability for harm resulting from his conduct if he is negligent or reckless    in the employment of improper persons or instrumentalities in work involving risk of harm to others   .). Some jurisdictions that recognize the tort of negligent credentialing do so as a natural extension of the tort of negligent hiring. See, e.g., Domingo v. Doe, 985 F.Supp. 1241, 1244-45 (D.Haw. 1997); Taylor v. Singing River Hosp. Sys., 704 So.2d 75, 78 n. 3 (Miss.1997); Rodrigues v. Miriam Hosp., 623 A.2d 456, 462-63 (R.I.1993). The tort of negligent credentialing is perhaps even more directly related to the tort of negligent selection of an independent contractor, which has been recognized in the Restatement of Torts to exist under certain circumstances. The Restatement (Second) of Torts § 411 (1965) provides that An employer is subject to liability for physical harm to third persons caused by his failure to exercise reasonable care to employ a competent and careful contractor (a) to do work which will involve a risk of physical harm unless it is skillfully and carefully done, or (b) to perform any duty which the employer owes to third persons. Although we have not specifically adopted this tort, we have frequently relied on the Restatement of Torts to guide our development of tort law in areas that we have not previously had an opportunity to address. See, e.g., Schafer v. JLC Food Sys., Inc., 695 N.W.2d 570, 575 (Minn.2005) (adopting section 7 of the Proposed Final Draft No. 1, Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability (1998), which recognizes reasonable consumer expectations in food products liability cases); Hubbard v. United Press Int'l, Inc., 330 N.W.2d 428, 438-39 (Minn.1983) (adopting section 46(1) of the Restatement (Second) of Torts, which defines the elements necessary to prove intentional infliction of emotional distress). Some of the courts that have recognized the tort of negligent credentialing do so as an application of the tort of negligent selection of an independent contractor. See, e.g., Albain v. Flower Hosp., 50 Ohio St.3d 251, 553 N.E.2d 1038, 1045 (1990); Corleto v. Shore Mem'l Hosp., 138 N.J.Super. 302, 350 A.2d 534, 537-38 (1975). Given our previous recognition of a hospital's duty of care to protect its patients from harm by third persons and of the analogous tort of negligent hiring, and given the general acceptance in the common law of the tort of negligent selection of an independent contractor, as recognized by the Restatement of Torts, we conclude that the tort of negligent credentialing is inherent in and the natural extension of well-established common law rights.