BUS 690 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Eric Garcetti, Fiduciary
Document Summary
Chapter 1, problem 1: through this problem, it is clear that morality and legality are not always one in the same. From the information given, it appears that eddingfield acted immorally by refusing to provide medical treatment to mr. hurley who later died as a result. While there is recognized unethical behavior from dr. eddingfield, there was no illegality in his actions. One thing to take into account is the vague nature of the establishment of the doctor-patient relationship. If we were to think of family physician as undeniably showing the fiduciary relationship between dr. eddingfield and the hurley family, then it is entirely possible that this case could have been ruled in favor of the plaintiff. The fact that eddingfield was the family physician did not establish an ongoing fiduciary responsibility to the hurley family. In addition, physicians are not required to enter into fiduciary relationships with clients. Employment-at-will is the primary legal rule that applies this scenario.
