Professional Negligence Law Reporter

The Ohio Supreme Court held that a negligent credentialing claim may not proceed absent a finding that a physician had committed medical negligence.

The father of Raeann Walling, who died after receiving treatment from physician Ransford Brenya at Toledo Hospital, sued Brenya for medical negligence and Toledo Hospital for negligent credentialing. Brenya settled with the plaintiff confidentially during trial, without any stipulation as to liability or malpractice. The hospital then moved for summary judgment. The trial court granted the motion. An intermediate court of appeals affirmed.

Affirming, the state high court noted that negligent credentialing is not grounded in vicarious liability but is an independent claim stemming from a hospital’s direct duty to grant staff privileges only to competent doctors. Citing case law, the court added that negligent credentialing claims are not viable absent a treating doctor’s medical negligence. The court found that the plaintiff and Brenya decided to settle the underlying claim without first obtaining a stipulation as to negligence. The court rejected the plaintiff’s argument that Brenya’s testimony during trial amounted to an admission that his treatment of Raeann was negligent. The physician’s purported admission was limited, the court said, and is not tantamount to a determination of negligence. Moreover, any alleged admission did not address the issue of proximate cause.

Consequently, the court held that the lower courts’ conclusions were proper.

Citation: Walling v. Brenya, 2022 WL 17345565 (Ohio Dec. 1, 2022).