A surgeon who performed gastric bypass surgery on a patient but allegedly failed to timely resume the patient’s prescription medication did not commit malpractice because the surgeon did not owe the patient a duty to manage medication because intensive care unit staff and other specialists could be relied on, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.

An Appellate Division, First Department panel decided that the medical-malpractice lawsuit lodged by former patient Lee Green against the surgeon, Dr. Elliot Goodman, was properly dismissed by the lower court because “under the particular circumstances in this case, defendant, as the patient’s surgeon, did not owe patient a duty to manage his medication in the ICU.”