A medical malpractice lawsuit must continue because an expert raised factual issues over whether a nurse practitioner should have instructed her patient to remove a NuvaRing contraceptive device, a divided Manhattan appeals court ruled.

A 3-2 panel of the Appellate Division, First Department, allowed the lawsuit against Montefiore Medical Center brought by Sarah Adams, who suffered a pulmonary embolism and brain damage, to proceed based largely on a physician's statements that, “if the nurse practitioner had … removed the NuvaRing, and referred plaintiff for further assessment, all of the subsequent injuries and complications suffered by plaintiff would have been avoided.”

Justices Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, Troy Webber and Angela Mazzarelli affirmed in part Bronx County Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon's 2016 denial of Montefiore's summary judgment motion.