Molien v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• recognizing broader stan dard of foreseeability for direct victim whose wife was negligently and incorrectly diagnosed as having syphilis, leading to the destruction of the marriage
• noting traditional California rule that existence of independent cause of action provides guarantee of genuineness for emotional distress claim
• recognizing NIED based only on “serious” emotional 5 harm but noting the justification for the previous rule requiring physical injury “appear[ed] to be 6 that it serve[d] as a screening device to minimize a presumed risk of feigned injuries and false 7 claims”
• noting the rule requiring mental injury be accompanied by physical injuries “encourages extravagant pleading and distorted testimony” by claimants trying to fit their emotional anguish claims into the physical injury framework
• defendant's negligent diagnosis that plaintiff's wife had syphilis stated a claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress
• defendant’s negligent diagnosis that plaintiff’s wife had syphilis stated a claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).