Liability for wrongful terminations: are hospitals at risk?

This article examines the extent to which the three principal exceptions to the common-law doctrine of employment-at-will--namely the public policy, implied contract, and good faith and fair dealing exceptions--have been recognized in hospital termination cases. State supreme court and appellate court cases are analyzed to illustrate the type of conduct that precipitated wrongful termination claims against hospitals during the 1980s, how the courts disposed of these claims, and the rationale underlying their decisions. Suggestions, based on these and related cases, for avoiding or at least minimizing liability for wrongfully terminating hospital employees, are presented.