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Bradshaw
v. Daniel (1993) Pg. 525
854 S.W.2d 865 (Tenn. 1993)
Author: VanderBucks
Parties:
Appellee – Plaintiff – Bradshaw
Appellant - Defendant – Daniel
Court:
Supreme Court of Tennessee, 1993
Facts:
Elmer Johns was admitted into the hospital and diagnosed with
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Dr. Daniels treated him, and Johns
later died. Dr. Daniels never warned Johns’s wife, Genevieve
of the risk of catching the disease. Later on Genevieve caught
the disease and suffered the same fate as her husband. Bradshaw,
the decedents’ son, filed suit against Dr. Daniels for
negligence for failure to warn.
Procedural
Posture:
TC – denied Dr. Daniel’s motion for summary judgment
and granted an interlocutory appeal on the issue of the physician’s
legal duty. Jury ruled in Bradshaw’s favor and Dr. Daniels
appealed on the grounds he owed no duty.
MC – reversed TC’s decision and granted Dr. Daniel’s
motion for summary judgment on the grounds that the facts were
insufficient to show that the risk to the non-patient of
contracting the disease imposed a duty on the doctor to warn.
Issue:
Does a health care professional owe a duty to warn a 3rd
party of a potential risk of acquiring a disease by his current
patient?
Judgment:
Reversed MC’s decision and remanded back to TC for further
proceedings.
Holding:
Held that the existence of a physician-patient relationship is
sufficient to impose upon a physician an affirmative duty to warn
identifiable third persons in the patient’s immediate family
against foreseeable risks emanating from a patient’s
illness. Dr. Daniel had a duty to warn Genevieve Johns of the
risks of contracting Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
Relevant
Rule:
The existence of a physician-patient relationship is sufficient
to impose upon a physician an affirmative duty to warn
identifiable third persons in the patient’s immediate family
against foreseeable risks emanating from a patient’s
illness.
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