While it is hornbook law that a hospital will be vicariously liable for the acts of its employees within the scope of their employment, a more difficult question arises when malpractice is claimed on the part of a non-employed physician working within a medical facility. Vicarious liability is an exception to the general proposition that limits a defendant’s liability to one’s own wrongdoing. Mondello v. New York Blood Center, 80 N.Y.2d 219, 227 (1992).

Where treatment is provided by an independent physician who was seen by the patient prior to treatment in the hospital, the doctrine of respondeat superior does not apply, as the hospital merely serves as the facility where such treatment may be rendered. Fiorentino v. Wenger, 19 N.Y.2d 407, 414 (1967).