Question

Briefly discuss when a physician owes a duty of care and then provide an example of when a physician does NOT owe such a duty and explain why. Cite one reference.

Answer 1

The duty of care is entrusted upon any and all the doctors working in a hospital, once the patient has been admitted in the said hospital. This basically means that there after, anything that happens to the patient due to a medical negligence by the doctor or the hospital, the liability of which would fall upon the said physician or hospital. In such a situation the patient or the next of kins have the full rights to file a law suit against the physician or the healthcare organisation.

For example, the physician becomes responsible for the health and well being of the patient in medical sense once a doctor patient relationship has been established. In such a case the physician owes a duty of care.

A physician DOES NOT owe such a duty of care can be explained by the followed example,

A medical emergency in an airplane. If a physician has boarded a flight where there is a medical emergency at some point, he/she can either chose to help the passenger or continue to travel without interfering. The physician does not owe a duty of care in such situations and cannot be held liable.

WHY? why the physician is not liable in such a case is because a doctor patient relationship between the two has not been established before the incident and the well being of the person outside of the hospital setting is not the physicians responsibility.