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IN THIS MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CASE, WHETHER DEFENDANT REGISTERED NURSE AND DEFENDANT PHYSICIAN’S ASSISTANT GAVE PLAINTIFF THE APPROPRIATE DISCHARGE INSTRUCTIONS AFTER DISOVERING A LUMP IN PLAINTIFF’S BREAST CREATED A QUESTION OF FACT; THERE WAS A QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER THE DOCTOR WHO COSIGNED THE PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT’S CHART SHOULD HAVE REVIEWED THE CHART (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined questions of fact precluded summary judgment in favor of defendant registered nurse (Varas), defendant physician’s assistant (Rogan), and defendant doctor who cosigned the physician assistant’s chart (Shaukat). Plaintiff alleged she was told the lump in her breast was a cyst and was given no follow-up instructions. Defendants allege plaintiff was given the appropriate follow-up instructions (to rule out cancer). Several months later plaintiff was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer:

Defendants Varas and Rogan made a prima facie showing that they did not depart from the applicable standard of care in providing plaintiff with verbal or written discharge instructions … . There are disputed issues of fact, however, that preclude summary judgment, including what, if anything at all, plaintiff was told upon discharge.

Dr. Shaukat established prima facie that she did not depart from the applicable standard of care through her expert physician’s opinion that cosigning a physician assistant’s chart “is a customary administrative function in major accredited hospitals,” and that she acted within that standard of care by cosigning plaintiff’s chart. In opposition, however, plaintiff raised an issue of fact through her expert physician’s opinions that “this function is not merely administrative”; that, in accordance with American Medical Association policy, “physician[s] must review the [physician assistants’] work to ensure conformity with the standard of care, not to simply rubberstamp medical records for ‘administrative’ purposes only”; and that Dr. Shaukat failed to conform to this standard of care by not recognizing alleged deficiencies in plaintiff’s chart and by not instructing Rogan to call plaintiff to tell her that she required imaging promptly in order to rule out a more serious condition, such as breast cancer … . Almonte v Shaukat, 2022 NY Slip Op 02221, First Dept 4-5-22

​Practice Point: In this medical malpractice case, whether a registered nurse and a physician’s assistant gave plaintiff adequate discharge instructions after discovery of a lump in plaintiff’s breast raised a question of fact. In addition, whether the doctor who cosigned the physician assistant’s chart should have reviewed the chart raised a question of fact.

 

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