Justice Alice Schlesinger
Balzola, widower and administrator of the estate of the 32 year old decedent, brought a wrongful death and medical malpractice action against defendant doctors. Balzola testified about the symptoms that his wife was having as she reported them to him, which included chest pains and shortness of breath. Defendants argued that the care and treatment provided to the deceased was at all times within good and accepted medical practices. Defendants further argued that, even if there had been malpractice, there was no merit to Balzola’s contention that the embolism which killed the deceased could have been treated in that there was no time to treat it from a pathology perspective. Defendants challenged the veracity of Balzola’s testimony regarding the reported symptoms, opining that the symptoms were not related to the embolism. Balzola submitted two of his own expert affirmations to refute defendants’ opinions. The court denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment, finding sufficient reliability at this point to allow the stated symptoms in the post-operative period to be relied upon by the Balzola’s experts.
