MUST RESPOND TO QUESTIONS ABOUT SERVICES SHE PROVIDED
After G.M.’s child suffered “permanent injuries,” allegedly as a result of medical malpractice committed by Doctors M.D. and H.J., a negligence case was filed against them in the Westchester County Supreme Court.
During the course of the deposition, when GM’s attorney asked Dr. H.J. her interpretation of certain “fetal heart rate tracings,” the physician’s lawyer would not allow her to respond to that line of inquiry. And when a motion to compel her to answer was denied by the judge assigned to the matter, an appeal followed.
On its review, the Appellate Division, Second Department, noted that while a physician can’t be asked questions about the “professional quality” of a fellow doctor’s services or any purported negligence they may have been committed, the line of questions asked here were pertinent because, prior to the caesarian section, H.J. offered her analysis of the heart rate tracings to her colleague (M.D.) and related to the services H.J provided.
Given that backdrop, because the AD2 didn’t find the questioning improper, it reversed the underlying determination and granted the mother’s motion to compel Dr. H.J. to respond to the disputed questions.
Think the doctor questioned that outcome?
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DECISION