Weiss v. Rubin
Weiss v. Rubin
Dissenting Opinion
On this appeal where the wrong type of blood was administered by transfusion, the evidence is ample to hold the hospital and the defendant Rubin, but the evidence is insufficient to hold the attending physician appellant Stanford Pulrang. In the midst of the operation which turned out to require an hour longer than had been anticipated, the anesthetist Keenan (agent for defendant Rubin) said to Dr. Pulrang: “ Doctor, I have blood ready for this lady. Shall I give it? ” Doctor Pulrang said yes, and the transfusion was administered. Under the rules and practice of the hospital, it was the sole responsibility of the hospital and not that of the attending physician to prepare and administer blood transfusions. The responsibility of the attending physician was confined to making decisions whether transfusions should be given, and directing the hospital to give them. In order to make
The sad outcome of this incident ought not to cause us to deviate from the concept of Bing v. Thunig (2 N Y 2d 656) that the attending surgeon is no longer responsible for the operation of the hospital in medical matters, which was the rationale underlying Schloendorff v. New York Hosp. (211 N. Y. 125). The modern hospital furnishes “ a large staff of physicians, nurses and internes, as well as administrative and manual workers” whereby “the hospital” does “undertake to treat the patient ’ ’. (Bing v. Thunig, supra, p. 666). Present-day hospitals do assume these responsibilities, which was the reason for the transference of liability in such matters from the
As regards appellant Pulrang, the judgment should be reversed and the complaint dismissed, with costs.
Chief Judge Desmond and Judges Dye, Burke and Foster concur with Judge Froessel ; Judge Van Voorhis dissents in an opinion in which Judge Fuld concurs.
Judgment affirmed.
Opinion of the Court
Decedent died as the result of a transfusion of incompatible blood administered during the course of an operation at defendant hospital.
The liability of the defendants anesthetist and hospital are conceded upon this appeal. As to the defendant surgeon, we are of the opinion that, on the record before us, the question of his negligence was properly submitted to the jury for their determination.
The proof showed that he “ initiated the blood bank in the Hospital ”; that it was hospital procedure to prepare a written order for the production of blood for transfusion purposes during the course of an operation (except in emergency situations, concededly not present here); that “ Nobody can order blood to the operating room except the Doctor”; that he had not ordered “ the production of the blood in the operating room at that time ”, and he knew that he had not ordered it—indeed, it had occurred to him at the time “ to inquire as to how that blood got to the operating room ”, but he did not do so.
The jury thus had a right to find that, in ordering the blood transfused without question and under those circumstances, defendant surgeon breached his duty of reasonable care to plaintiff’s decedent.
Accordingly, the judgment appealed from should be affirmed, with costs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.