Hospitals

In the nineteenth century, most of the treatment was given by doctors in people’s homes. Increasingly, hospitals staffed by nurses and visiting consultants became common. Two legal problems arose.

First, if something went wrong, it was more difficult for the patient to show which individual (doctor or nurse) was the cause of her injury, so it was more useful to make the hospital directly liable. Would the law impose a responsibility on the hospital for the care of patients?

Secondly, hospitals were often charitable bodies, e.g. set up by the Church, so the law was initially unwilling to impose on them the burden of paying compensation to the victims of their voluntary. Where the state delivered medical care then the general immunity of the state for the acts of its officials prevented recovery.

Were doctors and lawyers working together and listening to each other? Did it matter from a patients perspective?