Is an employer liable for injuries sustained by an independent contractor who causes injuries to a patient as a result of negligence?

The "peculiar risk" or "special risk" doctrine forms an exception to this principle of nonliability. "[O]ne who employs an independent contractor to do work which the employer should recognize as likely to create during its progress a peculiar [or special] risk of bodily harm to others unless special precautions are taken, is liable for bodily harm ... caused to them by the failure of the contractor to exercise reasonable care to take such precautions, even though the employer has provided for such precautions in the contract or otherwise...." (BAJI No. 13.21, approved in Griesel v. Dart Industries, Inc. (1979) 23 Cal.3d 578, 153 Cal.Rptr. 213, 591 P.2d 503.)