Mejia

Maria Del Carmen Mejia (plaintiff) appeals from a judgment of nonsuit in favor of Community Hospital of San Bernardino (respondent or respondent hospital), one of several defendants in her medical malpractice complaint. Plaintiff argues that there was sufficient evidence that the negligent physician was the ostensible agent of respondent to survive the motion for a nonsuit. We agree and reverse, concluding that a nonsuit on the issue of ostensible agency was improper because plaintiff sought treatment at respondent hospital and there was no evidence that she should have known that the negligent physician was not an agent of respondent.

Statement of Facts

In April 1997, plaintiff heard something pop in her neck when she bent over to move some boxes. Her neck immediately became stiff, and she suffered neck pain and stiffness off and on for a couple of weeks. Nevertheless, plaintiff went about her business, using acetaminophen to control the pain, until May 3, 1997, when she awoke with severe neck pain and her head was twisted to one side. That night, plaintiff’s mother convinced plaintiff to go to the emergency room (hereinafter sometimes ER).

A neighbor took plaintiff,…