New Jersey Appellate Division Holds No Duty to Third Persons at the Cost of Risk and Harm to Their Patients

The New Jersey Appellate Division has held, in the context of discharging patients from in-patient settings, physicians have a duty to their patients before third parties. 

In April of 2020, after a PCR test was administered but before the results of that test returned, a long-term care facility discharged a stroke patient to the care of her husband. Upon receiving a positive test result, the long-term care facility called the patient to inform her of the result and advised her to quarantine. Unfortunately, the patient’s husband would nonetheless contract COVID-19 and pass away as a result. 

The plaintiff argued the physicians had a duty to stop the spread of COVID-19 to third parties and should not have discharged her before a PCR test returned a negative result. 

The Appellate Division held that doing so would create a duty to non-patient third parties at the cost of the patient. The Appellate Division found the facts pled could not give rise to anything beyond simple negligence, and under the Covid Immunity Act, the plaintiff had no claim upon which relief could be granted. 

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