Lewis v. Physicians Insurance Co. of Wisconsin

¶ 1. The issue in this case is whether a surgeon can be vicariously liable for the negligence of two hospital nurses who failed to count accurately the sponges used in a surgical procedure. *651Because the plaintiff has not presented a viable doctrine for imposing vicarious liability on the surgeon under existing Wisconsin law and because we decline to adopt the "captain of the ship" theory for Wisconsin, we conclude that the surgeon cannot be held vicariously liable for the negligence of the two hospital nurses.

¶ 2. The plaintiff in this case, Norvin Lewis (Lewis), asserted that the defendant,…