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Ibrahim v. Lombardo

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jul 8, 1996
229 A.D.2d 423 (N.Y. App. Div. 1996)

Opinion

July 8, 1996

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Kings County (Clemente, J.).


Ordered that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.

The plaintiff underwent a corneal transplant of his left eye because of degenerative changes in his cornea caused by advanced keratoconus, a disease of the cornea. Ultimately, he suffered graft rejection and now has constant pain and darkness in the eye, which may be resolved by another transplant. The plaintiff asserted a cause of action for lack of informed consent ( see, Public Health Law § 2805-d) against Jovin Lombardo, the defendant surgeon, alleging that had Lombardo properly informed him of the alternatives to, and risks of, the surgery, he would not have consented to the procedure. The jury found that Lombardo "provide[d] appropriate information" to the plaintiff prior to obtaining his consent.

On appeal, the plaintiff maintains that the jury verdict is against the weight of the evidence inasmuch as Lombardo informed him only of the likelihood of success of the surgery, without advising him of the many risks inherent in the procedure, as well as the various alternatives available to him. We disagree. While the plaintiff adduced expert testimony in support of his claim that the information provided to him was qualitatively insufficient, Lombardo elicited expert testimony that the information he provided was appropriate. This conflicting testimony simply presented a question of fact for the jurors, whose verdict was based on a fair interpretation of the evidence ( see, Lolik v. Big V Supermarkets, 86 N.Y.2d 744, 746; Dooley v Skodnek, 138 A.D.2d 102; Nicastro v. Park, 113 A.D.2d 129).

Finally, on this record, we find no support for the plaintiff's bare claim that he was deprived of a fair trial because of the inadequacy of the interpretation of his testimony by a court interpreter who was not sufficiently familiar with his dialect of Arabic. Sullivan, J.P., Santucci, Joy and Hart, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

Ibrahim v. Lombardo

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
Jul 8, 1996
229 A.D.2d 423 (N.Y. App. Div. 1996)
Case details for

Ibrahim v. Lombardo

Case Details

Full title:AWAD IBRAHIM, Appellant, v. JOVIN LOMBARDO et al., Respondents

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: Jul 8, 1996

Citations

229 A.D.2d 423 (N.Y. App. Div. 1996)
644 N.Y.S.2d 519

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