KAMBAT V. ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL
678 N.E.2d 456 (N.Y. 1997)
NATURE OF THE CASE: Kambat (Ps) appealed an order that affirmed the supreme court's
ruling that common knowledge of lay jurors could be inadequate to support a res ipsa
loquitur inference.
FACTS: D performed an abdominal hysterectomy on Florence Fenzel, at St. Francis Hospital
(D). Ten laparotomy pads were marked and available for the operation. D placed several of
these pads in decedent's peritoneal cavity. After the operation, she began to complain of
stomach pain, and on November 30, 1986 X-rays taken at another hospital revealed a foreign
object in her abdomen. On December 5, a laparotomy pad measuring 18-by-18 inches--similar to
those used during the hysterectomy--was discovered fully or partially inside decedent's
bowel, and it was removed by Dr. Robert Barone. Decedent's condition continued to
deteriorate, and she died on December 29, 1986, from infection-related illnesses. Ps sued Ds
for medical malpractice. Ds introduced evidence that standard procedures were followed
during the operation, and that the number of sponges, medical instruments and laparotomy
pads used and removed were counted several times, carefully and accurately. Ds opined that
the pad had not been left inside decedent but, rather, that she had swallowed it. Decedent
suffered from chronic depression; overuse of sleeping pills could suppress the gag reflex
and permit her to swallow the pad; and the human gastrointestinal tract would allow the pad
to pass to the small bowel. P's expert witnesses, by contrast, agreed that it would be
anatomically impossible to swallow the laparotomy pad or for a swallowed pad to reach the
bowel. The trial court denied P's request to charge res ipsa loquitur, and the jury held for
Ds. The Appellate Division affirmed Supreme Court's dismissal of the complaint and this
appeal resulted.
ISSUE:
RULE OF LAW:
HOLDING AND DECISION:
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
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