Glass v. Rochester General Hospital

Order unanimously affirmed, with costs. Memorandum: Plaintiffs intestate entered the defendant Rochester General Hospital July 1, 1976 for performance of a caesarian section. She did not regain consciousness after the surgery and died in defendant’s intensive care unit on July 9, 1976. Plaintiff sued the hospital, the obstetricians and the anesthesiologists for malpractice. The hospital appeals from an order of Special Term which granted plaintiff a further examination before trial so that he could depose Dr. Umansky, an employee of the hospital, who had worked in the ICU when decedent was a patient there. Plaintiff seeks to question Dr. Umansky particularly about an entry that he made in the hospital records which states in part, "it is felt that patient aspirated in the OR with resultant hypoxic cerebral injury.” We affirm .Special Term’s order which provides that plaintiff may question the doctor, "as to the witness’ medical opinion concerning the cause of the conditions of the deceased noted by [him] and to the medical grounds thereof including the witnesses [sic] opinion.” Plaintiff is entitled to examine defendant through its employees as to "all evidence material and necessary” to the prosecution of the action (CPLR 3101, subd [a]). Evidence of decedent’s physical condition after the surgery is relevant to plaintiffs claims, particularly the claim that defendants negligently