Health/legal

RUNNING HEAD : MC CONNELL V WILLIAMS McConnell v Williams

Captain of the Ship Doctrine

Are You The Captain In Today 's Changing Healthcare Environment

HSAD

Dr . Paul Glover Introduction

The Captain of the Ship doctrine emerged from the Charitable Immunity doctrine that was employed during the 1940s . Many hospitals during that time were charitable institutions that were dependent on donations Charitable Immunity protected hospitals from lawsuits until the late 1950s . The Captain of the Ship doctrine came as a result of Charitable Immunity so the courts could hold

surgeons legally liable for others negligence that occurred in the operating room . The usage of the Captain has declined in recent years , as many claim that it is obsolete However , it is still used , and nowadays may be applied not only to surgeons in the operating room but also to psychiatrists , hospital boards and others . The multidisciplinary approach to medicine in the modern era as well as the trend of nonprofit healthcare institutions becoming profitable businesses have created a need for some to resurrect the doctrine at times by redefining it

Evolution of Captain of the Ship Doctrine

The Captain of the Ship doctrine was originally introduced into law through the case of McConnell v Williams , 361 Pa . 355 (1949 . In this case , an intern who had assisted an obstetrician at a charity hospital was said to have applied too much silver nitrate to a baby 's eyes and failed to irrigate the eye . The baby subsequently went blind in the right eye . Charitable Immunity , used widely during that time , allowed hospitals to be protected from legal damages , and the parents of such a newborn who was blinded were unable to get money from the intern because he was considered a hospital employee . Even so , the court - in McConnell v Williams - allowed for a finding of negligence against the obstetrician , despite the fact that he had had no direct role in the negligent act . The court ruled using a comparison from maritime law , in which a captain of a ship can be held accountable for actions of the crew members of his ship

After the McConnell V Williams case the Captain of the Ship doctrine grew in popularity through the 1950s . It was consistently applied to surgeons in cases of negligence . The doctrine 's use started to decline during the 1960 's and 1970 's . Nevertheless , as mentioned previously the concept continues to exist although its use has evolved due to the changing structure of medical care in more than half a century since the doctrine was first applied in court

The decline in usage over the years was caused primarily by a combination of two changes . First of all , there had been a shift in the chain of command . The structure of the delivery of healthcare that held doctors responsible for negligence shifted away from always holding the doctor liable . It had been replaced by a new logic that asks : Who is responsible , and how do we allocate liability for medical...