New York Court of Appeals, 1982

Fiederlein v. New York City Health & Hospitals Corp.

Fiederlein v. New York City Health & Hospitals Corp.
New York Court of Appeals · Decided March 30, 1982
56 N.Y.2d 573; 435 N.E.2d 398; 450 N.Y.S.2d 181; 1982 N.Y. LEXIS 3253
Fiederlein v. New York City Health & Hospitals Corp.

Cases that cite this one

27 later published cases cite this decision. The 25 that cite it most often are listed here.

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Opinion of the Court

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed, with costs.

The evidence was insufficient to form the basis for a jury award of damages for conscious pain and suffering. Mere conjecture, surmise or speculation is not enough to sustain a claim for damages. There was no direct proof of the cause of the decedent’s death and, more importantly, there was no proof of conscious pain and suffering in connection with *575that death. Moreover, we find the record to be insufficient to support a finding that decedent experienced increased pain while at the hospital as a proximate result of the treatment which he received.

Chief Judge Cooke and Judges Jasen, Gabrielli, Jones, Wachtler, Fuchsberg and Meyer concur.

Order affirmed, with costs, in a memorandum.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.