Senior Partner William P. Brady, Partner Gregory J. Radomisli, and Associate Jennifer M. Wanner obtained a summary judgment dismissal on behalf of our clients, a leading New York Hospital and its staff, in Supreme Court, New York County.
Plaintiff, a then 32 year old female, alleged that she should have undergone, inter alia, an ultrasound and mammography to diagnose breast cancer when she presented to the emergency department of a leading New York emergency room with the chief complaint of a lump in her left breast for six months. The hospital staff informed the plaintiff that she required an outpatient ultrasound and mammogram and instructed her to follow up with an outside Breast Clinic. The plaintiff delayed seeking outside care, and eventually was diagnosed with breast cancer a year later. However, after having been diagnosed with breast cancer, she further delayed seeking treatment for another 18 months. MCB submitted the expert affirmations of two experts, one of whom was Board Certified in emergency medicine, who opined that the standard of care for the Hospital and its staff was simply the referral to the Breast Clinic. MCB’s other expert, Board Certified in oncology, opined that the plaintiff’s treatment at the time it was diagnosed would have been the same if it been diagnosed six months earlier.
Immediately following oral argument, Justice Eileen Rakower ruled in favor of all of the defendants in this matter. She granted summary judgment and dismissed the case in regard to all of our own defendants, as well as the two co-defendants, the attending physician and the physicians’ assistant who also treated the plaintiff. This was important as due to the nature of this alleged malpractice having occurred in an emergency department, the Hospital could have been held to be vicariously liable for these co-defendants under Mduba.