WHERE THERE IS CONFLICTING EXPERT OPINION EVIDENCE IN A MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ACTION, SUMMARY JUDGMENT IS NOT APPROPRIATE, DEFENDANT’S SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined that the defendant hospital’s motion for summary judgment in this medical malpractice action should not have been granted. Although the hospital made out a prima facie case with expert evidence, the plaintiff produced conflicting expert evidence:
On a motion for summary judgment dismissing a cause of action alleging medical malpractice, the defendant bears the initial burden of establishing that there was no departure from good and accepted medical practice or that any alleged departure did not proximately cause the plaintiff’s injuries … . In order to sustain this prima facie burden, the defendant must address and rebut any specific allegations of malpractice set forth in the plaintiff’s complaint and bill of particulars … . If the defendant makes such a showing, the burden then shifts to the plaintiff to raise a triable issue of fact, but only as to those elements on which the defendant met its prima facie burden of proof … .
Here, [defendant] Brookhaven met its initial burden of demonstrating its entitlement to judgment as a matter of law dismissing the first cause of action by submitting an expert’s affirmation establishing that the diagnostic testing and consultations performed by its personnel were, within a reasonable medical certainty, appropriate and within prevailing standards of practice. In opposition, however, the plaintiff’s expert opined that the delay in performing and reviewing the second CT scan …, constituted a departure from prevailing standards of care. Where, as here, the parties submit conflicting medical expert opinions, summary judgment is not appropriate … . Sheppard v Brookhaven Mem. Hosp. Med. Ctr., 2019 NY Slip Op 03097, Second Dept 4-24-18