Illinois Hospital Faces Trial Over Doctors’ Alleged Malpractice

A stroke patient can proceed to trial in a lawsuit claiming a western Illinois hospital is vicariously liable for injuries allegedly caused by its nonemployee doctors’ medical malpractice.

Patient Marlene Do, through her representative, presented sufficient evidence to have a jury decide if she knew or should have known that her treating doctors were independent contractors, not Blessing Hospital’s apparent agents, the US District Court for the Central District of Illinois said Thursday.

Judge Colleen R. Lawless denied Blessing’s motion for summary judgment, saying its evidence didn’t definitively show the hospital acted in a way that would have led a ...