## Facts

- Martha Pierce was a paying patient at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital, a charitable, nonprofit hospital.
- Pierce alleged a hospital nurse injected a foreign substance into her left arm, causing pain and permanent injury.
- Pierce’s complaint sought to hold the hospital liable solely on a vicarious-liability theory for the nurse’s negligent act.
- The complaint did not allege negligent hiring or retention, nor “administrative negligence” (e.g., deficient equipment or policies).

## Issues

1. Whether a paying patient injured by a nurse’s negligence may recover damages from a charitable, nonprofit hospital on a respondeat superior theory.
2. Whether Washington’s court-created charitable-immunity doctrine should continue to bar vicarious liability for employee negligence in patient care absent negligent hiring/retention or administrative negligence.

## Decision

- The Washington Supreme Court reversed the order sustaining the hospital’s demurrer and dismissing the action with prejudice.
- The court held that a charitable, nonprofit hospital is subject to respondeat superior liability for negligent acts of its employees in treating patients.
- The court overruled prior Washington decisions recognizing charitable immunity for such claims.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings consistent with the new rule.

## Legal Principles

- A charitable, nonprofit hospital is not immune from tort liability for negligent treatment by its employees; ordinary agency principles apply.
- A patient may proceed on a vicarious-liability claim against the hospital without pleading negligent selection/retention or administrative negligence.
- Stare decisis does not require preservation of a judicially created immunity doctrine when it proves unsound under modern conditions.
- Legislative inaction does not amount to legislative approval that prevents judicial modification of common-law rules.
- Public policy supports imposing liability where institutions can distribute the risk of negligence through insurance and operating costs, and where the hospital-patient relationship resembles that of other service providers.

## Conclusion

Washington abolished charitable-hospital immunity for employee negligence in patient care, permitting injured patients to pursue respondeat superior claims against nonprofit hospitals even when the complaint alleges only the caregiver’s negligent act.


Pierce v. Yakima Valley Mem'l Hosp. Ass'n, 43 Wn.2d 162, 260 P.2d 765 (Wash. 1953)