LINDSEY PARKER v. CARILION CLINIC, ET AL., 296 Va. 319

Summary

HOLDINGS: [1]-The circuit court erred in sustaining a healthcare provider's demurrer to a patient's respondeat superior claim because the patient alleged that the provider's employees committed torts in the context of their employment with the provider; [2]-The rebuttal inferences that the provider asserted were not strong enough to defeat the presumption that facts existed that would satisfy the "established test" for vicarious liability; [3]-The circuit court correctly sustained the provider's demurrer to any claim of direct liability for breach of the duty of non-disclosure because the patient did not allege that the employees were corporate officers or authorized agents of the provider; [4]-The provider's demurrer to the negligence per se claim was properly sustained because the absence of a tort duty under Virginia law rendered irrelevant the statutory standard of care under HIPAA.