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Senior Trial Partner Laurie A. Annunziato and Partner Fiachra P. Moody successfully obtained Summary Judgment in Kings County Supreme Court in an action brought on behalf of a then 29-year-old married female patient, in which the plaintiff alleged that the codefendant OB/GYN physician had negligently performed a contraindicated episiotomy on September 7, 2021, during the plaintiff’s labor and delivery admission at MCB’s client hospital.
We argued that Summary Judgment was warranted because no independent acts of negligence were alleged against the hospital. The record established that the plaintiff was privately admitted for obstetrical care and treated throughout her prenatal course by a private physician, with a covering provider present at delivery pursuant to a private practice arrangement.
We further argued that the hospital could not be held vicariously liable under Mduba or any theory of ostensible agency. The evidence demonstrated that the plaintiff’s relationship was exclusively with her private physician and that the covering provider was not a hospital employee. Under these circumstances, the alleged malpractice at issue could not be attributed to the hospital. Accordingly, Summary Judgment dismissing all claims against the hospital was warranted and granted.