514. Duty of Hospital

A hospital is negligent if it does not use reasonable care toward its patients. A hospital must provide procedures, policies, facilities, supplies, and qualified personnel reasonably necessary for the treatment of its patients.

[When you are deciding whether [name of defendant] was negligent, you must base your decision only on the testimony of the expert witnesses who have testified in this case.]

Directions for Use

This instruction may be augmented by CACI Nos. 515, Duty of Hospital to Provide Safe Environment, and/or 516, Duty of Hospital to Screen Medical Staff.

The second paragraph should be used except in cases where the court determines that expert testimony is not necessary to establish the standard of care.

See CACI Nos. 219-221 on evaluating the credibility of expert witnesses.

This instruction is not intended for cases where the hospital is being sued based on the negligence of an agent or employee. See instructions in the Vicarious Responsibility series and adapt accordingly.

Sources and Authority

The amount of care that a hospital must exercise toward a patient varies depending on the patient's condition: "[T]he duty imposed by law on the hospital is that it must exercise such reasonable care toward a patient as his mental and physical condition, if known, require. . . ." (Vistica v. Presbyterian Hospital & Medical Center, Inc. (1967) 67 Cal.2d 465, 469 [62 Cal.Rptr. 577, 432 P.2d 193].)

A hospital has a duty "to use reasonable care and diligence in safeguarding a patient committed to its charge [citations] and such care and diligence are measured by the capacity of the patient to care for himself." (Thomas v. Seaside Memorial Hospital (1947) 80 Cal.App.2d 841, 847 [183 P.2d 288].)

A hospital's duty extends to both treatment and care: "It is the duty of any hospital that undertakes the treatment of an ill or wounded person to use reasonable care and diligence not only in operating upon and treating but also in safeguarding him, and such care and diligence is measured by the capacity of the patient to care for himself." (Valentin v. La Societe Francaise de Bienfaisance Mutuelle (1946) 76 Cal.App.2d 1, 4 [172 P.2d 359].)

Hospitals must maintain safe conditions on their premises: "[T]he professional duty of a hospital . . . is primarily to provide a safe environment within which diagnosis, treatment, and recovery can be carried out. Thus if an unsafe condition of the hospital's premises causes injury to a patient . . . there is a breach of the hospital's duty qua hospital." (Murillo v. Good Samaritan Hospital (1979) 99 Cal.App.3d 50, 56-57 [160 Cal.Rptr. 33].)

Hospitals must monitor a patient's condition: "Defendant . . . was under a duty to observe and know the condition of a patient. Its business is caring for ill persons, and its conduct must be in accordance with that of a person of ordinary prudence under the circumstances, a vital part of those circumstances being the illness of the patient and incidents thereof." (Rice v. California Lutheran Hospital (1945) 27 Cal.2d 296, 302 [163 P.2d 860].)

"If a hospital is obliged to maintain its premises and its instrumentalities for the comfort of its patients with such care and diligence as will reasonably assure their safety, it should be equally bound to observe the progress of a patient in his recovery from a major operation with such care and diligence as his condition reasonably requires for his comfort and safety and promptly to employ such agencies as may reasonably appear necessary for the patient's safety." (Valentin, supra, 76 Cal.App.2d at p. 5.)

A hospital has a duty to provide sufficient staff: "No expert opinion is required to prove the hospital's failure to provide an adequate number of trained, qualified personnel at the most critical time in postoperative care was negligent." (Czubinsky v. Doctors Hospital (1983) 139 Cal.App.3d 361, 367 [188 Cal.Rptr. 685].)

Secondary Sources

6 Witkin, Summary of California Law (9th ed. 1988) Torts, §§ 801-803, pp. 153-155

3 Levy et al., California Torts, Ch. 31, Liability of Physicians and Other Medical Practitioners, § 31.81 (Matthew Bender)

California Tort Guide (Cont.Ed.Bar 1996) §§ 9.55-9.64

25 California Forms of Pleading and Practice, Ch. 295, Hospitals, § 295.13 (Matthew Bender)

(New September 2003)