New York Court of Appeals, 1988

Datiz v. Shoob

New York Court of Appeals · Decided March 29, 1988

71 N.Y.2d 867; 527 N.Y.S.2d 749; 522 N.E.2d 1047; 1988 N.Y. LEXIS 206

Cases that cite this one

18 later published cases cite this decision.

Derusha v. Sellig (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2012)
Mandel v. New York County Public Administrator (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2006)
Ryan v. Rock (New York Supreme Court, New York County 2024)
Murphy v. Chinatown Cardiology, P.C. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2023)
Messina v. Rivera (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2022)
C.M. v. Estate of Dr. Reginald Archibald (District Court, S.D. New York 2022)
Culver v. Simko (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2019)
Yanchynska v. Wertkin (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2019)
Odoardi v. Abramson (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2016)
Burtman v. Brown (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2012)
Burtman v. Brown (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2012)
Weissman v. Wider (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1997)
Arrumm v. Yonkers Institutional Food Corp. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1992)
Harding v. Noble Taxi Corp. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1992)
Massio v. Pergament Distributors, Inc. (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1992)
Tremmel v. Wallman (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1990)
Pace v. Unity House of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1990)
Kavanaugh v. Nussbaum (N.Y. 1988)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

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

It is generally true that the mere referral of a patient by one physician to another, without more, does not render the referring doctor vicariously liable for the negligence of the treating physician (see, Kavanaugh v Nussbaum, 71 NY2d 535; Hill v St. Clare’s Hosp., 67 NY2d 72, 79; Graddy v New York Med. Coll., 19 AD2d 426, 429, mot to dismiss appeal denied 13 NY2d 1175; Nisenholtz v Mount Sinai Hosp., 126 Misc 2d 658, 663). Here, however, there is evidence in the record from which the jury could have concluded that defendant — the referring pediatrician — had been independently negligent in diagnosing the infant plaintiff’s condition, and that this misdiagnosis constituted a proximate cause of plaintiffs injuries. *869This being so, defendant, as the initial wrongdoer, cannot escape liability merely by showing that the subsequent treating physician to whom plaintiff was referred was also negligent (see, Ravo v Rogatnick, 70 NY2d 305, 310; Suria v Shiftman, 67 NY2d 87, 98). We have examined defendant’s remaining contention and find it to be without merit.

Chief Judge Wachtler and Judges Simons, Kaye, Alexander, Hancock, Jr., Bellacosa and Dillon* concur.

Order affirmed, with costs, in a memorandum.

Designated pursuant to NY Constitution, article VI, § 2.

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