Clifton Springs Sanitarium Co., Inc. v. Axelrod

• Decision Date: 20 December 1985
• Parties: CLIFTON SPRINGS SANITARIUM CO., INC., as Operators of Clifton Springs Hospital and Clinic, Petitioner, v. David AXELROD, M.D., as Commissioner of the Department of Health of the State of New York, and Raymond D. Sweeney, as Director of the Office of Health Systems Management, Respondents.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 525

497 N.Y.S.2d 525

115 A.D.2d 949

CLIFTON SPRINGS SANITARIUM CO., INC., as Operators of

Clifton Springs Hospital and Clinic, Petitioner, v. David AXELROD, M.D., as Commissioner of the Department of

Health of the State of New York, and Raymond D.

Sweeney, as Director of the Office of

Health Systems Management, Respondents.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division,

Fourth Department.

Dec. 20, 1985.

Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle by Susan Robfogel, Rochester, for petitioner.

Robert Abrams, Atty. Gen. by Reynolds Hahn, Albany, for respondents.

Before HANCOCK, J.P., and DOERR, BOOMER, GREEN and O'DONNELL, JJ.

MEMORANDUM:

Petitioner Hospital, with the benefit of private grant monies, purchased a trailer which it installed on its grounds approximately eight feet from its principal hospital building. A connecting walkway and extended electrical service were provided from the hospital building to the trailer. The trailer was then leased to a staff radiologist, Dr. Steven Braff, who rented and installed in the trailer a Computerized Axial Tomography Scanner (CAT scanner) with which he performed CAT scans on in-patients of petitioner Hospital, as well as on in-patients of other area hospitals. Dr. Braff also provided service to out-patients in the area. Eventually, Dr. Braff purchased his own CAT scanner.

Petitioner Hospital was served with a statement of charges alleging violations of Article 28 of the Public Health Law for operating a CAT scanner without Department of Health approval. After a hearing, the Administrative Law Judge concluded that petitioner was operating a CAT scanner without obtaining a Certificate of Need (CON) from respondents, as required by Article 28 of the Public Health Law. Respondents adopted these conclusions and ordered petitioner to terminate its lease with Dr. Braff for the trailer insofar as it provided for CAT scanning services on its in-patients, discontinue permitting its in-patients to be CAT scanned in the trailer, and levied monetary sanctions. We reverse.

We note preliminarily that the challenged order did not prohibit Dr. Braff from using the trailer to perform CAT scans on out-patients or on in-patients from other hospitals.

Judicial review of administrative determinations made after a hearing is limited to a consideration of whether those determinations are supported by substantial evidence (CPLR 7803[4]; Matter of Silberfarb v. Board of Coop. Educational Servs., Third Supervisory Dist., Suffolk County, 60 N.Y.2d 979, 980, 471 N.Y.S.2d 257, 459 N.E.2d 482; 300 Gramatan Ave. Assoc. v. State Div. of Human Rights, 45 N.Y.2d 176, 179, 408 N.Y.S.2d 54, 379 N.E.2d 1183).

The conclusions of the Administrative Law Judge that the trailer was a part of the Hospital or that the trailer itself constituted a hospital (Public Health Law § 2801[1] ), that the scanning services being provided...