Shepard v. Sisters of Providence

793 P.2d 1384, 102 Or. App. 196, 1990 Ore. App. LEXIS 579
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJune 20, 1990
DocketA8401-00175; CA A60886
StatusPublished

This text of 793 P.2d 1384 (Shepard v. Sisters of Providence) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shepard v. Sisters of Providence, 793 P.2d 1384, 102 Or. App. 196, 1990 Ore. App. LEXIS 579 (Or. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

RICHARDSON, P. J.

The issue in this medical malpractice action is whether Dr. Teply, a surgical resident whose negligence injured plaintiff during an operation at defendant hospital, was the hospital’s agent for purposes of the operation, making the hospital vicariously liable for the injury. Plaintiff contends that he was, and the hospital argues, inter alia, that he was instead the agent of the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center (university). Teply was an employee of the university, but was assigned to the hospital pursuant to an affiliation program and agreement. In Shepard v. Sisters of Providence, 89 Or App 579, 750 P2d 500 (1988), we affirmed the trial court’s order allowing plaintiff a new trial, because of errors pertaining to jury instructions on agency at the first trial. Plaintiff now appeals from the judgment for the hospital in the second trial. We affirm.

We explained in Shepard v. Sisters of Providence, supra:

“The participating residents are employed by university which assigns them, on a rotating basis, to hospitals with which it has affiliation agreements. Each participating hospital must designate a head of the integrated program. That role at defendant hospital is performed by the director of hospital’s department of surgery, who is a salaried hospital employe. Hospital’s associate administrator testified that, notwithstanding university’s primary responsibility for the supervision and professional development of residents in the program, hospital’s director of surgery supervises the residents, reviews their work and criticizes their work ‘if that’s necessary.’ For purposes of the program, hospital’s director of surgery is a member of university’s surgery faculty.
“Residents perform their services under the immediate supervision and direction of individual physicians, usually private practitioners, who have surgical privileges at and are members of the medical staffs of participating hospitals. Those physicians are denominated ‘preceptors,’ and they must either be university faculty members or be approved as preceptors by the chairman of university’s department of surgery. [Dr.] Wilson was acting as Teply’s preceptor in connection with plaintiffs operation. Teply was the chief surgical resident at hospital. It was his responsibility to assign residents to preceptors for particular procedures. He assigned himself to assist Wilson in the surgery on plaintiff.
[199]*199<<* * * * *
“The agreement between university and hospital contains these provisions:
“ ‘Nothing contained in this agreement shall be construed to limit in any way the responsibility of the Hospital for the establishment of its own policies and for the operation of the Hospital in a manner consistent with its objectives and the rendition of quality health care at a reasonable cost.
"* * * * *
“ ‘The clinical experience of such clinical education programs will be subject to the joint approval of Hospital and University. It is understood that, in the interest of high quality patient care, Hospital reserves the right under any clinical affiliation program to control the amount and type of direct services to patients provided by students in this program.’ ” 89 Or App at 581-83.

We then noted and rejected the hospital’s contention that

“it was essentially a cipher in the arrangement and simply provided facilities and the mechanics by which residents for whom university was generally responsible could be brought together with the private physicians who would assume responsibility over them for specific professional activities. The jury could have and, apparently, did find facts in accordance with that argument.
“However, that finding was not compelled as a matter of law, and there was ample evidence from which the jury could have made the opposite finding. The arrangement between university and hospital assumed a complicated form. For purposes of the program, hospital’s chief surgical employe became at least a nominal university faculty member, and the preceptors from hospital’s medical staff with whom the residents worked directly had to be affiliated with or approved by university. The fact finder was not obliged to agree with hospital that its director of surgery was acting solely as a university faculty member, rather than as its employe, in the supervision of the residents which there was evidence to show he exercised. The jury was also not required to believe that the reservation of hospital’s right of control in the contract did not mean what it said.” 89 Or App at 583.

Plaintiff contends in her first assignment that the court erred by denying her motion for a directed verdict, made [200]*200on the ground that the quoted provisions of the agreement, along with various others, gave the hospital the right of control over Teply and made him its agent as a matter of law. Plaintiff appears to understand our opinion in the first appeal to lend support to that view. She is incorrect. We concluded that there was evidence to support either finding on the agency question. The contractual relationship between the university and the hospital was complex, if not convoluted. Hospital officials and affiliates were designated as also being university officials and affiliates for purposes of the program. The contract documents assigned supervisory responsibilities to both entities. We do not agree with plaintiff that they unambiguously conferred the right of control on the hospital. The evidence at the second trial was similar to that in the first and permitted a finding that Teply was not the hospital’s agent.

Plaintiff also asserts that, under Piehl v. The Dalles General Hospital, 280 Or 613, 571 P2d 149 (1977), Teply was the hospital’s agent, regardless of whether it exercised actual control over or had the right to control him. She explains:

“[T]he Court stated that regardless of whether or not an agent is a loaned servant of a surgeon for some purposes, he remains an agent of the hospital in carrying out the work for which the hospital is being paid. Dr. Tepley’s presence at the hospital and participation in the surgery was as part of St. Vincent’s participation in the surgical residency program. Tepley’s salary and all costs related to the program were paid for by the defendant. He was as a matter of law carrying out work for which the hospital was being paid.”

The language in Piehl on which plaintiff relies related to whether nurses employed by the hospital remained its agents or became “loaned servants” of the surgeon whom they assisted in an operation. This case presents the different question of whether Teply was the hospital’s agent, the university’s or their dual agent, ab initio. We said in Shepard v. Sisters of Providence, supra, 89 Or App at 584, that “it is not correct that any agency relationship which may have existed between Teply and hospital ended at the operating room door.” (Emphasis supplied.) However, unlike that issue in the previous appeal and unlike the issue in Piehl, the question now is whether any agency relationship between Teply and the hospital did exist before he arrived at the operating room [201]*201door. There was conflicting evidence, and the court correctly denied the directed verdict.

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Related

Shepard v. Sisters of Providence
750 P.2d 500 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1988)
Piehl v. Dalles General Hospital
571 P.2d 149 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
793 P.2d 1384, 102 Or. App. 196, 1990 Ore. App. LEXIS 579, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shepard-v-sisters-of-providence-orctapp-1990.