There was a proliferation of Court of Appeals decisions in medical malpractice cases over the past year. Our columns of February, August, October and December 2016 each addressed issues in malpractice actions that had recently been decided by the state’s highest court. This month’s column discusses the most recent of them.
Procedural History
In Pullman v. Silverman, 28 N.Y.3d 1060 (2016), the court returned to the standards for summary judgment in medical malpractice. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant was negligent in administering him Lipitor and in giving Lipitor in conjunction with the antibiotic Azithromycin. He further alleged that this negligent treatment caused a cardiac arrhythmia that progressed to third degree atrioventricular heart block, which required placement of a permanent pacemaker.
