Final answer:
Under the doctrine of respondeat superior, an employer may be liable for the actions of an employee. Anaphylactic shock requires immediate epinephrine treatment. If red blood cells were destroyed after an injection, the solution likely wasn't isotonic.
Step-by-step explanation:
If a radiologist instructs you to inject a patient with a radiographic contrast medium and the patient collapses from anaphylactic shock, you may be protected from a lawsuit under the doctrine of respondeat superior. This legal doctrine means that an employer (in this case, possibly the hospital or medical practice) is responsible for the actions of its employees performed within the scope of their employment.
Anaphylactic shock is a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction characterized by symptoms such as respiratory distress and plummeting blood pressure. Immediate treatment with epinephrine is critical in such cases to counter the blood pressure and breathing effects. Regarding the isotonic saline solution, it seems unlikely that the injected solution was actually isotonic if an autopsy showed that many red blood cells had been destroyed, which suggests the solution might have been hypotonic, leading to the cells bursting, or hypertonic, leading to the cells shrinking and possibly bursting.