ALBANY – A case that could expose health maintenance organizations to vicarious liability for medical malpractice – and provide plaintiffs and their counsel with a potentially lucrative source of damages – is slated for argument this month before the Court of Appeals.
The Court is asked, in Wisholek v. Douglas, 28, to affirm two lower courts and hold an HMO responsible for the actions of its employee physician even though insurers are generally shielded under Public Health Law �4410 from direct claims of malpractice. The Public Health Law neither explicitly allows nor bars vicarious liability claims, and trial courts have differed on whether HMOs can be roped in under a respondeat superior theory.
