What is abandonment?
Abandonment occurs when the doctor, without proper notice, unilaterally severs his professional relationship with a patient who is in need of continuing health care. To succeed in an abandonment suit the plaintiff must prove five elements: • that the doctor owed a duty to the patient; • that the doctor’s withdrawal was unilateral; • that the patient was in need of continued treatment; • that the patient sustained some injury from the lack of care; • that the injury was caused by the physician’s abandonment. Duty: Prerequisite to Abandonment A doctor cannot “abandon” a patient to whom he owes no duty. Physician duties arise from the establishment of a doctor/patient relationship. Absent that fundamental relationship and its attendant duties, a patient has no basis to claim that he was abandoned. That much is true in every malpractice case. Abandonment claims have an additional element requiring the defendant to demonstrate the existence of a “treatment relationship” during the patient’s
