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Keywords

contractplaintiffdefendantliabilitysummary judgmentduty of care
plaintiffdefendantappealmotionsummary judgmentcorporationduty of care

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McNulty v. City of New York, 100 N.Y.2d 227, 792 N.E.2d 162, 762 N.Y.S.2d 12, 2003 N.Y. Slip Op. 14003

Facts

The plaintiff, Mary Ann McNulty, was a registered nurse and a friend of Robin Reda, who was treated for infectious meningitis at Jacobi Hospital. After being informed of Reda's condition, McNulty sought advice from several doctors regarding her own need for treatment due to her close contact with Reda. Despite asking Dr. Bellin, Dr. Shimm, and Dr. Tanowitz whether she needed treatment, she received negative responses. Subsequently, McNulty contracted the same type of meningitis and suffered significant health issues.

In the early morning hours of December 24, 1989, plaintiff Mary Ann McNulty was awakened by a telephone call from Louis Eschevaria, the boyfriend of her friend, Robin Reda, who stated that he had gone to Reda's apartment to find that she had vomited everywhere and was unresponsive. Both plaintiff and Reda were registered nurses, Reda at defendant Jacobi Hospital/Bronx Municipal Hospital Center, which is part of defendant New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, and plaintiff at defendant Montefiore Medical Center.

Issue

Did the defendant doctors owe a duty of care to the plaintiff, a nonpatient, based on their alleged negative responses to her inquiries about needing treatment after being in close contact with a patient diagnosed with infectious meningitis?

Did the defendant doctors owe a duty of care to the plaintiff, a nonpatient, based on their alleged negative responses to her inquiries about needing treatment after being in close contact with a patient diagnosed with infectious meningitis?

Rule

Generally, a doctor only owes a duty of care to his or her patient, and courts have been reluctant to extend this duty to nonpatients unless a special relationship exists.

Generally, a doctor only owes a duty of care to his or her patient. We have been reluctant to expand a doctor's duty of care to a patient to encompass nonpatients.

Analysis

The court analyzed whether a special relationship existed between the plaintiff and the doctors that would warrant an extension of the duty of care. It concluded that since the plaintiff was not a patient and her injury did not arise from the doctors' treatment of Reda, the doctors did not owe her a duty of care. The court emphasized that recognizing such a duty could expose doctors to liability to an almost limitless category of potential plaintiffs.

The circumstances of this case do not warrant finding the doctors accountable to plaintiff. In addition to the fact that plaintiff's illness did not arise as a result of the doctors' treatment of Reda, up until the time that plaintiff allegedly approached the doctors, they had never met her.

Conclusion

The court reversed the lower court's decision, granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants and dismissing the complaint against them. The court found that the defendants did not owe a duty of care to the plaintiff.

Accordingly, the order, insofar as appealed from, should be reversed, with costs, the motion of defendants Drs. Shimm and Tanowitz for summary judgment granted in its entirety, the complaint against said defendants dismissed and the certified question answered in the negative.

Who won?

Defendants (Drs. Shimm and Tanowitz) prevailed because the court determined they did not owe a duty of care to the plaintiff, as she was not their patient and her injury did not arise from their treatment of Reda.

Defendants (Drs. Shimm and Tanowitz) prevailed because the court determined they did not owe a duty of care to the plaintiff, as she was not their patient and her injury did not arise from their treatment of Reda.

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