Reardon v. Presbyterian Hospital in the City of New York
| Decision Date | 19 March 2002 |
| Parties | WILLIAM REARDON, Appellant,<BR>v.<BR>PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK et al., Respondents. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Plaintiff's decedent, Susan Reardon, a heart transplant recipient, fell while being helped down from the examining table after undergoing a follow-up biopsy at the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory of the Presbyterian Hospital in the City of New York, sustaining a fractured hip.[*] Although plaintiffs asserted causes of action in both medical malpractice and ordinary negligence, upon pretrial motion the court dismissed the malpractice claim, permitting plaintiff to proceed with the negligence claim.
At trial, plaintiff offered the testimony of defendant Howard Levin, M.D., an employee of Presbyterian Hospital, who stated that after he conducted the biopsy, he helped Ms. Reardon off the examining table. He first asked her if she was dizzy and she indicated that she was not. Then, believing that his assistance was enough to help Ms. Reardon off the table, although there was a nurse in the room who could have assisted, he stood on Ms. Reardon's right side and held her under and on top of her right arm as she stepped off the table on to a step-stool. She then fell to her left, taking Levin with her. At the time of the accident Ms. Reardon was 40 years old, 4 feet, 11 inches tall and weighed 155 pounds. Dr. Levin testified that he weighed between 210 and 215 pounds, and was 6 feet, 1 inch tall.
At the close of plaintiff's case, the defense moved for dismissal of the only remaining claim, for negligence, contending that since the task of helping the patient alight from the table was part of the medical procedure and/or part of the doctor-patient relationship, the claim necessarily was for medical malpractice. Consequently, defendants argued, the failure to provide testimony by a medical expert was fatal to the claim, rendering the evidence insufficient to constitute a prima facie case of medical malpractice. The trial court granted the motion.
Contrary to the trial court's decision, we conclude that testimony by a medical expert was unnecessary for plaintiff's prima facie case. "If the allegations of lack of due care can be determined by the jury `on the basis of common knowledge, the action sounds in simple negligence; if professional skill and judgment are involved, the more particularized theory of medical malpractice applies'" (Smee v Sisters of Charity Hosp. of Buffalo, 210 AD2d 966, 967, quoting Zellar v Tompkins Community...
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Rabinovich v. Maimonides Med. Ctr.
...of a lack of due care (see Jeter v. New York Presbyt. Hosp., 172 A.D.3d at 1339, 101 N.Y.S.3d 411 ; Reardon v. Presbyterian Hosp. in City of N.Y., 292 A.D.2d 235, 237, 739 N.Y.S.2d 65 ). In contrast, an action sounds in medical malpractice where the determination involves a consideration of......
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