Summary Judgment Dismissal

Congratulations to Peter DeNoto, Corey Schmidt, and Jesse Lubin for obtaining summary judgment dismissal of all claims by the estate of a decedent against a defendant cardiologist in Supreme Court, Nassau County.  The decedent was on Coumadin, an anticoagulant, to prevent a stroke from atrial fibrillation, which is a form of an arrhythmia.  After examining and evaluating the decedent, the cardiologist discontinued the Coumadin and placed the decedent on low-dose Xarelto, another anticoagulant.  The cardiologist left the practice and another doctor took over the decedent’s care and continued the Xarelto at the same dosage.  Approximately one year later, the decedent had a stroke and passed away shortly thereafter.  The team successfully argued that the cardiologist appropriately assessed the decedent, discontinued the Coumadin, and started low-dose Xarelto, and they successfully argued that there was no causal connection between the treatment provided by the cardiologist and the decedent’s stroke and demise since the physician-patient relationship between the cardiologist and the decedent had ended over a year earlier.  Despite aggressive advocacy by counsel representing the estate of the decedent, which included a questionable expert opinion and numerous attempts to discredit the cardiologist based on the cardiologist’s prior, unrelated criminal history, the court dismissed all of the claims against the cardiologist.