Opinion
August 27, 1998
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Stanley Sklar, J.).
Issues of fact exist as to whether a reasonable practitioner would have advised plaintiffs of the reasonably foreseeable risks and benefits of an anonymous blood transfusion from a blood bank and any alternatives thereto, in particular, "directed donation", i.e., blood donated by a relative or friend of the patient, and, if so, whether defendants failed to communicate such information (Public Health Law § 2805-d; see, Shkolnik v. Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Inst., 211 A.D.2d 347, 350, lv denied 87 N.Y.2d 895). There are also issues of fact as to whether plaintiffs could have found a suitable donor had they been sufficiently apprised of the directed donor option, whether defendant Rica G. Arnon was acting in her capacity as an employee of only defendant Mount Sinai Medical Center or both Mount Sinai and defendant New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., and whether there was agency by estoppel with respect to the latter.
Concur — Milonas, J. P., Ellerin, Williams, Tom and Mazzarelli, JJ.