New York State Court of Appeals – Medical Malpractice: Walton v. Strong Memorial Hospital, et al.

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New York State Court of Appeals – Medical Malpractice –  Foreign Object Exception

Walton v. Strong Memorial Hospital, et al.

No. 67

Judge Read

Background: At issue is whether a fragment from a catheter that was placed in the plaintiff’s heart during surgery in 1986 is a foreign object for the purposes of the discovery rule of CPLR 214-a. The defendants argue that any device that is intentionally left in a patient’s body for purposes of continuing treatment is a “fixation device” and not a foreign object, because the appropriate focus should not be on the specific function that a device was intended to perform, but whether the device was intentionally inserted as part of a continuing treatment modality.

Ruling: The Court of Appeals held that the fragment qualifies as a foreign object. The court found the defendant’s proposed definition of a fixation device overly-broad and deviates from precedent. The catheter inserted in the left atrium of the plaintiff’s heart performed no securing or supporting role during or after surgery. Expert testimony demonstrated that the catheter functions like a sentinel, allowing medical personnel to monitor atrial pressure so that they might take corrective measures as required. Therefore, they are not fixation devices. Further, the plaintiff left the hospital after an operation with therapeutically useless and potentially dangerous surgical paraphernalia lodged in his body.

Edward J. Markarian for the appellant; Barbara D. Goldberg