• Auto Accidents
• Truck Accidents
• Serious Injuries
• Wrongful Death
• Motorcycle Accidents

Blog

Auto Accidents

• Muskingum County Ohio Car Accident Attorney | 15-Year-Old Girl Injured in Muskingum Ohio Accident
• Pike County Ohio Auto Accident Lawyer | 55-Year-Old Woman Sustained Injuries in Sunfish Ohio Car Accident
• Portage County Ohio Car Accident Attorney | Motor Vehicle Crash Injures 17-Year-Old Girl in Randolph Ohio
• Warren County Ohio Personal Injury Attorney | Turtle Creek Ohio SUV Crash Injures 57-Year-Old Woman

View More

News

• Posted on 9/9/2010Cleveland School Bus Driver Arrested After Drunk Driving Crash
• Posted on 9/3/2010Ohio drivers are among the safest in the United States
• Posted on 7/18/2010Man killed in Lorain County motorcycle crash
• Posted on 7/7/2010Lorain man killed in DUI scooter crash

View More

Library

Auto Accidents

• Aggravation of a Pre-Existing Condition in an Ohio Personal Injury Case

View More

FAQs

Auto Accidents

• I was injured in an Akron car crash while I was driving a relatives car. Whose insurance policy covers my injuries and the damage to the car?
• I was injured in a Cleveland car crash. When should I contact an attorney?
• I was injured in a Cleveland car crash. When should I contact an attorney?

View More

Who pays when the ambulance driver or doctor commits malpractice after my Ohio car accident?

The issue of who pays for the negligence of the ambulance or hospital that occurs after an Ohio car accident (treatment for accident related injuries) arises when a client comes to my office and tells me that after their car accident, the ambulance driver dropped him off the gurney and injured him. Or, perhaps the hospital forgot to diagnose a broken bone or internal injury, and the client suffered as a result. Who should pay the medical bills caused by the doctor's mistake after the Ohio car accident?

To answer the question we are really asking, who is legally liable for these injuries in Ohio, we must take a look at each party's liability under existing Ohio law. The ambulance driver is liable for his or her own negligence. His boss is also liable, because Ohio law says employers are liable for the negligence of their employees that occur while the employee is on the job. It is called respondeat superior vicarious liability. Quite a mouthful. The doctor who committed malpractice may be found liable for his negligence, as well as the hospital if he is an employee. Nurses may be liable, also.

As any experienced Ohio truck or car accident lawyer will tell you, interesting enough, the at-fault driver may be able to be forced to pay the medical bills, pain and suffering, etc. caused as a result of the ambulance driver and/or the hospital doctor's negligence. This is called the "successive tortfeasor rule." The idea is that it is foreseeable that you will need an ambulance and/or doctor after an accident for accident related treatment, and their negligence is foreseeable so the driver at-fault should have to pay for it. Now of course the at-fault driver can turn around and sue the ambulance driver and/or doctor to get his money back. I guess the theory is, "hey, if you did not cause the car accident, I never would have seen the doctor and injured by him or her." Seems fair to me.

The benefit of this "successive tortfeasor rule" is that you do not have to turn the car accident case into a bigger, more expensive medical malpractice case if you do not want to. Of course this only works if the driver has enough auto insurance to cover all the pain and suffering, medical bills, etc. Like I said, medical malpractice claims are generally harder to prove and cost a lot more to pursue.

So the short answer to the question is the at-fault driver after the Ohio motor vehicle accident can be forced to pay the bills for the negligence of the ambulance driver and/or the doctor treating you for accident-related injuries.

Note the successive tortfeasor rule gets it name from the fact that in Ohio, as in most states, at-fault parties are called tortfeasors, and the ambulance driver or doctor would be tortfeasors that are at fault after the original driver in time, making them successive tortfeasors. Hence the name "successive tortfeasor rule."

If you have been harmed by the negligence of a Ohio driver or medical provider, contact the Ohio car accident lawyers and Ohio medical malpractice lawyers at Chester Law Group at 1-800-218-4243.

Chester Law Group Co., LPA are located in Akron, Youngstown, Canton, Toledo, Columbus, Westlake, Amherst, Beachwood, Mentor, Twinsburg, Ravenna, Warren, Medina, and Independence, Ohio.

Our offices serve clients statewide in Ohio including the following areas:

Akron / Canton, Cleveland Metropolitan Area, Youngstown / Warren, Elyria / Lorain, Toledo, Columbus, Cincinnati, and rural Ohio.

Contact us today for a FREE, NO OBLIGATION consultation about your personal injury legal needs.

Videos

Auto Accidents:

• What Your Insurance Covers Explained by Ohio Personal Injury Attorney
• Ohio Personal Injury Attorney Discusses Property Damage to Your Car
• Ohio Personal Injury Attorney Explains Details of Rental Cars
• If You Have Lost Wages From Work Ohio Personal Injury Attorney Says Make Sure You Have a Doctor’s Excuse
• Ohio Personal Injury Attorney Explains How Auto Insurance Companies Work

View More