Medicolegal Sidebar: Getting Sued By Someone Else's Patient-When Does a Curbside Consultation Carry Medicolegal Jeopardy?

Surgeons know that staying current on surgical techniques is important; they may not realize that medicolegal principles evolve just as quickly. In 2018, it was reasonable to believe that one might be sued for malpractice by a patient; in 2019, a Minnesota Supreme Court decision found that a physician-patient relationship is not a necessary element in a medical malpractice claim [8]. In the ruling, the Court ruled that during the time that a physician acts in a professional capacity, if it is reasonably foreseeable that a third-party will rely on the physician’s medical decisionmaking that may ultimately harm the patient, then a physician duty of care toward that patient arises, even absent a physician-patient relationship [8]. Modern medical practice is increasingly democratized by team-based approaches to medical care, information disclosure and dissemination, and shared decision-making. But the Minnesota court ruling is a reminder that courts still hold a traditional view that the physician is ultimately responsible for the patient, even for medical advice and decisionmaking done without establishing a physician-patient relationship.