Question

Negligence review question--Analyze whether Kim has a valid negligence claim against Dr. Smith.

Dr. Smith prescribes a drug for Bill. The doctor does this without first checking Bill's medical history, which shows Bill has a condition that causes temporary unconsciousness if he takes this drug. Bill takes the drug while in his apartment's kitchen, and a few minutes later, he loses consciousness and falls. While he is unconscious, the oil in a pan he had cooking on the stove bursts into flames. This sets Bill's apartment on fire, and the fire then begins to spread through the apartment building.

The fire and smoke cause the building's emergency fire safety system to activate. This includes the immediate shutoff of all electricity in the building. Kim, who lives in the apartment next to Bill, is exercising on her treadmill at this time. When the building's electricity suddenly shuts off, her treadmill immediately stops, causing her to fall and break her ankle.

Answer 1

Kim does not have a valid negligence claim against Dr. Smith. Negligence occurs when someone suffers injury due to another’s failure to exercise required duty of care. In order to prove negligence, the act must create risk of injury and the risk of injury must be foreseeable such that a reasonable person engaging in same activity would anticipate the risk and guard against it. In this case Dr. Smith owed duty of care to Bill while prescribing the medicine and he breached the duty by prescribing the drug that causes temporary unconsciousness to Bill without checking his medical history. Hence the possible risks of injury to Bill were foreseeable to Dr. Smith. But Kim is not a patient of Dr. Smith and Dr. Smith cannot anticipate any risk that may happen to Kim based on his prescription to Bill. Though Kim fell from the treadmill due to the negligence made by Dt. Smith, it occurred as a result of series of events which include Bill becoming unconscious, oil pan burning into flames setting the apartment on fire, fire spreading through the apartment building, fire and smoke causing the building's emergency fire safety system to activate which leads to immediate shutoff of all electricity in the building and then to stopping of the treadmill causing Kim to fall and break the ankle. It is not possible for the doctor to foresee all these events leading to the injury for Bill’s neighbor. Hence the proximate cause to prove negligence is absent here and Kim does not have a valid negligence claim here.