Ruling may produce more hospital lawsuits. (Ohio Supreme Court ruling on physician negligence)

A March 16 ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court could make Ohio hospitals more vulnerable to lawsuits resulting from alleged physician negligence, even if the doctors aren't hospital employees.

"Essentially what the Supreme Court did was to make it much easier for a patient to sue a hospital for negligence, particularly for injuries that happen in the emergency room," said Maxwell J. Mehlman, director of the Law of Medicine Center at Case Western Reserve University.

"What it (the decision) will clearly do is dramatically increase the number of suits against hospitals,