Question of Fact Raised by Competing Expert Affidavits

The Fourth Department determined competing experts raised a question of fact about whether the post-discharge arrangements for psychiatric treatment of plaintiff’s decedent were adequate.  Plaintiff’s decedent committed suicide 16 days after he was released from defendant psychiatrist’s in-patient care:

…[P]laintiff submitted the affidavit of her unidentified expert, wherein the expert stated that the proper standard of care required that decedent, who had been prescribed multiple medications that had significant side effects, such as suicidal ideation, “be monitored closely by a psychiatrist from the point of his discharge.” It is undisputed that defendant approved the discharge without ensuring that decedent had a psychiatrist who could treat him. Additionally, defendant acknowledged at her deposition that decedent required psychiatric care upon discharge, but testified that it was not her responsibility to arrange for decedent’s post-discharge care and that this responsibility was “customarily [within] the purview of the social worker.”  Similarly, defendant’s expert stated in his affidavit that it was within the standard of care to delegate to a licensed social worker the task of arranging for post-discharge care. Plaintiff’s expert, however, disagreed, stating that “delegating the task to a social worker without insuring that the task was completed is a . . . deviation from the standard of care.”  We conclude that the conflicting opinions of the experts raise an issue of fact for trial… .  Mazella… v Beals…and Mashinik, 931, 4th Dept 9-27-13