A Massachusetts doctor, who didn't sign an arbitration agreement between a nursing home and its patient, couldn't be forced to take part in the arbitration, or to be stuck with the result, when the  patient claimed malpractice.

The case Walker v Collyer found a patient trying to force a doctor into an arbitration the doctor hadn't agreed to - since the doctor performed services at the rehabilitation home where the patient stayed and since the patient and the home had agreed to arbitrate all disputes between themselves arising out of the stay.

The Massachusetts Appeals Court decided that someone who's agreed to arbitrate can't force a non-signer to take part in, or to be bound by, the arbitration process.  The court said it, not the arbitrator, determines who gets forced into and to be bound by arbitration proceedings.

The doctor's position was vindicated only after it took an appeal from the order of the  trial court who had upheld the arbitrator's order that the doctor take part in the arbitration - a different kind of doctor's orders.