Opinion ID: 2085247
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Fahey

Text: Plaintiff Debra Ann Fahey became an obstetrical patient of Dr. Anthony C. Canino, of defendant OBGYN Health Care Associates, P.C. (OBGYN). In August 1999, Dr. Canino informed her that she was carrying twins. On October 28, 1999, on a follow-up visit with Dr. Canino's partner, defendant Dr. Patrick F. Ruggiero, plaintiff complained of lower abdominal pains and cramping. Based on an ultrasound, Dr. Ruggiero concluded that one of the twins was pressing against plaintiff's sciatic nerve. Two days later, during the eighteenth week of pregnancy, plaintiff called Dr. Canino and complained of increasingly intense pain along with nausea. Relying on Dr. Ruggiero's examination, Dr. Canino advised plaintiff to lie down, explaining that the pain was likely related to her sciatic nerve and the nausea probably resulted from something she ate for lunch. Less than two hours later, while sitting on the toilet, plaintiff gave birth to one of the twins. Still linked to the fetus by the umbilical cord, she went by ambulance to the hospital, where she delivered the second twin. Neither twin survived. Other doctors later diagnosed plaintiff as having an incompetent cervix. In a subsequent pregnancy, she underwent a cerclage procedure to suture her cervix, and thereby prevent the premature expulsion of the fetus. Plaintiff delivered a six-week premature daughter the following year. The Faheys brought this action for medical malpractice asserting that defendants negligently failed to diagnose and treat plaintiff's cervical condition. Supreme Court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. With one Justice dissenting, the Appellate Division, also citing Tebbutt, affirmed on the ground that defendants' alleged malpractice did not cause the mother an independent physical injury. We now reverse the Appellate Division orders in both cases. [1]