Attempting to get a column value via Codeigniter's row()->name emits "Trying to get property of non-object"

I am encountering an error when I submit my form:

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Notice

Message: Trying to get property of non-object

Filename: controllers/Admin.php Line Number: 253 Backtrace: File: C:\OpenServer\domains\medicalsystem.com\application\controllers\Admin.php Line: 253 Function: _error_handler Blockquote

if ($task == "create"){

    $email = $_POST['email'];       
    $patient = $this->db->get_where('patient', array('email' => $email))->row()->name;      
    if ($patient == null) {
        $this->crud_model->save_patient_info();
        $this->session->set_flashdata('message', get_phrase('patient_info_saved_successfuly'));
    } else {
        $this->session->set_flashdata('message', get_phrase('duplicate_email'));
    }
    redirect(base_url() . 'index.php?admin/patient');
}

 
   

Error line code

$patient = $this->db->get_where('patient', array('email' => $email))->row()->name;

this line has a problem.

For context, here is my save_patient_info() method:

function save_patient_info()
{
    $data['name'] = $this->input->post('name');
    $data['email'] = $this->input->post('email');
    $data['password'] = sha1($this->input->post('password'));
    $data['address'] = $this->input->post('address');
    $data['phone'] = $this->input->post('phone');
    $data['sex'] = $this->input->post('sex');
    $data['birth_date'] = strtotime($this->input->post('birth_date'));
    $data['age'] = $this->input->post('age');
    $data['blood_group'] = $this->input->post('blood_group');
    $this->db->insert('patient',$data);
    $patient_id = $this->db->insert_id();
    move_uploaded_file(
        $_FILES["image"]["tmp_name"],
        "uploads/patient_image/" . $patient_id . '.jpg'
    );
}

Try this:

if ($task == "create"){

    $email = $_POST['email'];
    $patient = $this->db->get_where('patient', array('email' => $email))->result_array();

    if ($patient == null) {
        $this->crud_model->save_patient_info();
        $this->session->set_flashdata('message', get_phrase('patient_info_saved_successfuly'));
    } else {
        $this->session->set_flashdata('message', get_phrase('duplicate_email'));
    }

    redirect(base_url() . 'index.php?admin/patient');
}

If you want to access patient name then you can access as $patient['name']