Weighing in on the admissibility of clinical practice guidelines in medical malpractice, the New York Court of Appeals on Tuesday unanimously found that an upstate trial judge properly permitted the defendant to introduce an algorithm, or flow chart, to explain why a doctor followed a particular course of action.
But the ruling, eagerly awaited by medical malpractice attorneys on both sides of the courtroom, was limited in scope, largely fact-specific and seemingly did little to finally resolve the question of whether such guidelines can be admitted without violating the hearsay rule.
