What is the responsibility of a hospital to protect the general public from an employee who may cause harm? Until recently, the answer to this question was simply “none“; hospitals were not seen as having any direct responsibility for the actions of employees. But this has changed, and the current trend is to hold a hospital directly responsible for the level of care received by its patients — the hospital must provide an ongoing system to monitor performance of employees as well as staff physicians.

But what about acts of employees outside the hospital? Does a hospital have any obligation to anticipate when one of its employees poses a threat not on the job? This was the question addressed in a recent case before a California appeals court.