You are here: / / PLAINTIFF SUFFERED AN EYE INJURY AT SOME POINT IN HIP REPLACEMENT SURGERY...
, ,

PLAINTIFF SUFFERED AN EYE INJURY AT SOME POINT IN HIP REPLACEMENT SURGERY OR IN THE RECOVERY ROOM AND SUED SEVERAL DEFENDANTS RELYING ON THE RES IPSA LOQUITUR DOCTRINE, DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON THAT ASPECT OF PLAINTIFF’S CASE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendants’ motion for summary judgment should have been granted to the extent plaintiff relied on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. Plaintiff, who underwent hip replacement surgery, suffered an eye injury either in the operating room or the recovery room:

Plaintiff commenced this medical malpractice action seeking damages for injuries he sustained to his left eye during hip replacement surgery performed at defendant St. Joseph’s Hospital (Hospital). Defendants Brett Greenky, M.D. and Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists, P.C. (SOS) were retained by plaintiff to perform the surgery, and defendants Mehtab Singh Bajwa, M.D., Tracie O’Shea, C.R.N.A., and the Anesthesia Group of Onondaga, P.C. (collectively, anesthesia defendants) were responsible for, inter alia, administering the anesthesia to plaintiff prior to the surgery. * * *

“Ordinarily, a plaintiff asserting a medical malpractice claim must demonstrate that the doctor deviated from acceptable medical practice, and that such deviation was a proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury”… . “Where the actual or specific cause of an accident is unknown, under the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur a jury may in certain circumstances infer negligence merely from the happening of an event and the defendant’s relation to it” … .”In a multiple defendant action in which a plaintiff relies on the theory of res ipsa loquitur, a plaintiff is not required to identify the negligent actor . . . That rule is particularly appropriate in a medical malpractice case such as this in which the plaintiff has been anesthetized” … . Here, plaintiff was under the care and control of Greenky, SOS and the anesthesia defendants during the surgery, and the Hospital immediately after the surgery. During that time, plaintiff was either under anesthesia and/or not fully awake or oriented to his surroundings. While O’Shea testified that there was no indication of an eye injury when she delivered plaintiff to the recovery room, hospital staff testified that plaintiff’s eye was noticeably irritated at that time. Consequently, there is an issue of fact whether plaintiff sustained the eye injury in the operating room or in the recovery room. ” Plaintiff was rendered unconscious for the purpose of undergoing surgical treatment . . . [, and] it is manifestly unreasonable for [the defendants] to insist that [he] identify any one of them as the person who did the alleged negligent act’ ” … . White v Bajwa, 2018 NY Slip Op 03246, Fourth Dept 5-4-18

​NEGLIGENCE (MEDICAL MALPRACTICE, PLAINTIFF SUFFERED AN EYE INJURY AT SOME POINT IN HIP REPLACEMENT SURGERY OR IN THE RECOVERY ROOM AND SUED SEVERAL DEFENDANTS RELYING ON THE RES IPSA LOQUITUR DOCTRINE, DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON THAT ASPECT OF PLAINTIFF’S CASE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FOURTH DEPT))/MEDICAL MALPRACTICE (RES IPSA LOQUITUR,  PLAINTIFF SUFFERED AN EYE INJURY AT SOME POINT IN HIP REPLACEMENT SURGERY OR IN THE RECOVERY ROOM AND SUED SEVERAL DEFENDANTS RELYING ON THE RES IPSA LOQUITUR DOCTRINE, DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON THAT ASPECT OF PLAINTIFF’S CASE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FOURTH DEPT))/EVIDENCE (MEDICAL MALPRACTICE, RES IPSA LOQUITUR, PLAINTIFF SUFFERED AN EYE INJURY AT SOME POINT IN HIP REPLACEMENT SURGERY OR IN THE RECOVERY ROOM AND SUED SEVERAL DEFENDANTS RELYING ON THE RES IPSA LOQUITUR DOCTRINE, DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON THAT ASPECT OF PLAINTIFF’S CASE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FOURTH DEPT))/RES IPSA LOQUITUR (MEDICAL MALPRACTICE,  PLAINTIFF SUFFERED AN EYE INJURY AT SOME POINT IN HIP REPLACEMENT SURGERY OR IN THE RECOVERY ROOM AND SUED SEVERAL DEFENDANTS RELYING ON THE RES IPSA LOQUITUR DOCTRINE, DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON THAT ASPECT OF PLAINTIFF’S CASE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FOURTH DEPT))

You might also like
Prior Stipulation Based Upon Inaccurate Information Properly Vacated
Emergency Doctrine Precluded Action on Behalf of Driver of Car Which Crossed Into On-Coming Lane of Traffic; ”Noseworthy” Doctrine Did Not Apply to Reduce Plaintiff’s Decedent’s Burden of Proof
UNDER THE TERMS OF THE LEASE AND VILLAGE REGULATIONS, THE HERKIMER COUNTY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, AS THE OWNER OF PROPERTY ABANDONED BY THE TENANT, IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE UNPAID WATER CHARGES INCURRED BY THE TENANT (FOURTH DEPT).
ALTHOUGH THE JUDGE IN THIS BENCH TRIAL DID NOT EXPLICITLY RULE ON DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR A TRIAL ORDER OF DISMISSAL, THE MAJORITY DETERMINED THE DENIAL OF THE MOTION WAS IMPLICIT IN THE VERDICT AND THEREFORE THE LEGAL INSUFFICIENCY ARGUMENT COULD BE CONSIDERED ON APPEAL; THE DISSENT DISAGREED (FOURTH DEPT).
APPLICATION TO FILE LATE NOTICE OF CLAIM SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED. NO SHOWING OF DEFENDANT’S TIMELY AWARENESS OF THE INJURIES.
Sworn Allegations About the Conduct of a Juror in Defendant’s Motion to Set Aside the Verdict Were Sufficient to Require a Hearing About Whether a Substantial Right Had Been Prejudiced
THE DETECTIVE DID NOT READ THE MIRANDA RIGHTS TO DEFENDANT AND IT IS CLEAR FROM THE VIDEOTAPE THAT DEFENDANT COULD NOT HAVE READ THE WRITTEN EXPLANATION OF THOSE RIGHTS BEFORE HE WAIVED THEM; THE PEOPLE, THEREFORE, DID NOT PROVE DEFENDANT KNOWINGLY, INTELLIGENTLY AND VOLUNTARILY WAIVED THE MIRANDA RIGHTS; THE MOTION TO SUPPRESS DEFENDANT’S STATEMENTS SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FOURTH DEPT). ​
AT THE TIME DEFENDANT RAN AS THE POLICE APPROACHED THERE WAS NO INDICATION THE POLICE WERE GOING TO CITE DEFENDANT FOR TRESPASS OR VIOLATION OF AN OPEN-CONTAINER LAW; DEFENDANT THEREFORE COULD NOT HAVE INTENDED TO OBSTRUCT GOVERNMENTAL ADMINISTRATION BY RUNNING; DEFENDANT’S RUNNING DID NOT PROVIDE PROBABLE CAUSE TO ARREST; THE PEOPLE’S ALTERNATIVE PROBABLE CAUSE ARGUMENT (TRESPASS AND OPEN-CONTAINER VIOLATION), ALTHOUGH PRESENTED TO THE SUPPRESSION COURT, WAS NOT RULED ON AND THEREFORE COULD NOT BE CONSIDERED ON APPEAL (FOURTH DEPT).

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2026 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

DEFENDANT WHO ALLOWED 16-YEAR-OLD NEIGHBOR TO WATCH PLAINTIFF’S FIVE-YEAR-OLD... RESIDENT PHYSICIANS DID NOT EXERCISE INDEPENDENT JUDGMENT AND WERE NOT REQUIRED...