Monday, October 27, 2025
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Cedars-Sinai Not Liable for Malpractice in Its Emergency Room—Ninth Circuit
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Cedars-Sinai is not liable for any malpractice committed in its emergency room because services there are performed by an independent contractor, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has held.
The defendant was Cedars-Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital, sued as “Cedars Sinai Hospital.” That facility is an affiliate of the Cedars-Sinai Health System.
Its contractor is Envision Healthcare, a national medical group.
Thursday’s decision came in a memorandum opinion signed by Circuit Judges Michelle T. Friedland, Eric D. Miller, and Gabriel P. Sanchez.
Allegations of Complaint
The plaintiff, who was self-represented, said in the operative complaint:
“Defendant: Cedar Sinai Hosp : Plaintiff Susan Woodard, is the caretaker of the estate of the late Kamal Woodard (Son). This cause of action against Cedar Sinai Hospital, is based upon facts supported by the four corners of the record, that Cedars Sinai Hosp failed in it’s [sic] legal duty to provide adequate emergency room healthcare service providers, who failed to diagnose treat and prescribe the most marginally adequate healthcare service to the late Kamal Woodard who did report to the Cedars Sinai Hosp emergency room staff that he had been raped.”
The pleading continues:
“Emergency room staff subsequently failed to conduct even the most cursory rape examination and or procedures to diagnose and or treat Woodard’s condition, with said failure ultimately leading to the premature death of the same. Cedars Sinai Hosp. did have an legal obligation to provide qualified healthcare providers in its emergency room who were qualified under California law to practice medicine.
On Feb. 27, 2024, District Court Judge Fred W. Slaughter of the Central District of California dismissed the action without leave to amend for failure to state a claim, saying:
“The Amended Complaint…seeks to hold Defendant liable for treatment it alleges employees of Envision Healthcare provided. However, the general rule in California is that an independent contractor is not liable for injuries to third parties caused by the contractor’s negligence….The Amended Complaint does not indicate Envision Healthcare is an entity related to Defendant, and Plaintiff does not identify an applicable exception in her briefing. Accordingly, the Amended Complaint, like the original Complaint, still does not overcome California’s general rule that a hirer of an independent contractor is not liable for the contractor’s negligence.”
The plaintiff, who resides in South Carolina, added Envision as a defendant in her second amended complaint but, Slaughter ruled, she did so too late; the statute of limitation had run. The Ninth Circuit on Thursday indicated agreement.
Ninth Circuit Opinion
Affirming the judgment in favor of Cedars, the judges said:
“The district court properly dismissed Woodard’s claims against Cedars Sinai Hospital because Woodard failed to allege facts sufficient to state any plausible claim.”
They wrote that under California law, there is “no vicarious liability for tortious acts of independent contractors except in specified circumstances.”
The case is Woodard v. Cedars Sinai Hospital, 24-1837.
In 2023, Envision went into, and emerged from, Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
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