Professional Negligence Law Reporter

A New York appellate court held that claims arising out a visually impaired patient’s fall from an examination table sounded in medical, not ordinary, negligence.

Sheena Davis, who is legally blind, was brought to the Interfaith Medical Center catheter lab for a procedure. When a nurse employed by staffing agency Gotham Staffing, LLC, stepped away to discard used gauze, Davis fell from the examination table and was injured. She sued the nurse and the staffing agency, among others, alleging negligence and failure to provide fall prevention. Davis died during the litigation, and the administrator of her estate was substituted as the plaintiff.

The defendants moved to compel the plaintiff to serve a certificate of merit. The plaintiff opposed the motion, arguing that the claims sounded in negligence, not medical negligence. The trial court denied the motion.

Reversing the lower court, the appellate court noted that it must consider the nature of the duty owed to the plaintiff. Citing case law, the court found that allegations that a health care provider had improperly assessed a patient’s risk of falling and need for supervision involve questions of medical judgment. Therefore, the court said, the plaintiff’s claim here sounds in medical malpractice, as opposed to ordinary negligence.

Accordingly, the court concluded that the trial court had erred in denying the defendants’ motion to compel the plaintiff to serve a certificate of merit and notice of medical malpractice.

Citation: Snow v. Gotham Staffing, LLC, 227 A.D.3d 1029 (N.Y. App. Div. 2024).