The Second Department determined plaintiff raised a triable question of fact whether defendant neurologist (Lombard) conducted an adequate suicide assessment of plaintiff's decedent. Plaintiff's decedent committed suicide one week after the assessment:
The evidence submitted in support of [defendants'] motion, including an expert affirmation of a psychiatrist, demonstrated, prima facie, that Lombard did not depart from good and accepted standard of medical practice in his treatment of the decedent … . However the [defendants] failed to establish, prima facie, that none of the alleged departures was a proximate cause of the decedent's death, as the affirmation of the … expert was silent on the issue of proximate cause. As such, in order to defeat the motion, the plaintiff was only required to show the existence of a triable issue of fact as to a departure from good and accepted medical practice … .
The plaintiff raised a triable issue of fact as to whether Lombard departed from good and accepted medical practice by failing to obtain the decedent's records from his prior mental health care providers, including the records from the … emergency room where the decedent had been seen earlier on the day he met with Lombard, and by conducting an inadequate suicide assessment … , such that Lombard's treatment decision was “something less than a professional medical determination” … . “A decision that is without proper medical foundation, that is, one which is not the product of a careful examination, is not to be legally insulated as a professional medical judgment” … . Gallen v County of Rockland, 2016 NY Slip Op 01803, 2nd Dept 3-16-16
NEGLIGENCE (QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER DEFENDANT DOCTOR CONDUCTED AN ADEQUATE SUICIDE ASSESSMENT)/MEDICAL MALPRACTICE (QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER DEFENDANT DOCTOR CONDUCTED AN ADEQUATE SUICIDE ASSESSMENT)/SUICIDE (MEDICAL MALPRACTICE, QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER DEFENDANT DOCTOR CONDUCTED AN ADEQUATE SUICIDE ASSESSMENT)