Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1994

Love v. St. Charles Hospital

Love v. St. Charles Hospital
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York · Decided July 15, 1994
206 A.D.2d 977; 614 N.Y.S.2d 823; 1994 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 7704
Love v. St. Charles Hospital

Opinion of the Court

Order unanimously reversed on the law without costs, motion granted and complaint against St. Charles Hospital dismissed. Memorandum: Defendant hospital’s motion for summary judgment should have been granted. The hospital submitted evidence, in the form of hospital documents, deposition transcripts and a physician’s affidavit, sufficient to make a prima facie showing of entitlement to judgment as a matter of law (see, Alvarez v Prospect Hosp., 68 NY2d 320, 324; Zuckerman v City of New York, 49 NY2d 557, 562). Plaintiff and defendant doctors failed to produce evidentiary proof in admissible form sufficient to establish a material issue of fact that requires a trial (see, Alvarez v Prospect Hosp., supra, at 324; Zuckerman v City of New York, supra, at 562). The affidavit of plaintiff’s doctor is conclusory and unsupported by competent evidence. It fails to establish the elements of a medical malpractice or negligence cause of action against defendant hospital (see, Alvarez v Prospect Hosp., supra). Because the doctors were independent physicians retained by the *978mother, the hospital is not liable for their alleged malpractice (see, Hill v St. Clare’s Hosp., 67 NY2d 72, 79; Toth v Community Hosp., 22 NY2d 255, 265, rearg denied 22 NY2d 973; Florentino v Wenger, 19 NY2d 407, 414). (Appeal from Order of Supreme Court, Suffolk County, Tanenbaum, J.—Summary Judgment.) Present—Pine, J. P., Lawton, Wesley, Doerr and Boehm, JJ.

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