Robert L. Brown

“ The Paulinos urge that negligent credentialing is akin to the tort of negligent supervision of employees, which is recognized in Arkansas. See Regions Bank & Trust v. Stone County Skilled Nursing Facility, Inc., 345 Ark. 555, 567, 49 S.W.3d 107, 115 (2001) . In order to recover under a theory of negligent supervision, a plaintiff must show that an employer knew or, through the exercise of ordinary care, should have known that its employee's conduct would subject third parties to an unreasonable risk of harm. ”

“ The fact that we conclude that the Medical Malpractice Act does not confer a cause of action for negligent credentialing, however, does not end the inquiry. The question remains whether Arkansas should recognize negligent credentialing as a new brand of negligence under its common law. In Bailey, this court held that no "medical injury" was involved in the case of the escaping patient, and, therefore, the heightened standard of care enunciated in the Medical Malpractice Act did not apply. Instead, this court observed that the proper standard of care was an ordinary-negligence standard. ”

“ In general, ordinary decisions by an employer to hire an employee or independent contractor are not subject to any similar statutory safeguards. Nor do we agree with the Paulinos that Arkansas's Peer Review Statute contemplates a direct cause of action against NMC due to the fact that NMC is not entitled to immunity as part of the peer review committees under the statute relating to discovery and introduction of documents and testimony into evidence. ”