Opinion
2000-05176
Submitted September 28, 2001.
December 10, 2001.
In a claim to recover damages for medical malpractice, the claimant appeals from a judgment of the Court of Claims (Ruderman, J.), dated April 19, 2000, which, after a nonjury trial, dismissed her claim.
ANTHONY M. GIORDANO, Ossining, N.Y., for appellant.
ELIOT SPITZER, Attorney-General, New York, N.Y. (MICHAEL S. BELOHLAVEK and CAROL FISCHER of counsel), for respondent.
Before: CORNELIUS J. O'BRIEN, J.P., DANIEL F. LUCIANO, ROBERT W. SCHMIDT, THOMAS A. ADAMS, JJ.
ORDERED that on the court's own motion, the claimant's notice of appeal from a decision of the same court dated March 23, 2000, is deemed a premature notice of appeal from the judgment (see, CPLR 5520[c]); and it is further,
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed, with costs.
The well-settled law is that the State owes a duty to its incarcerated citizens to provide them with adequate medical care (see, Kagan v. State of New York, 221 A.D.2d 7, 8). To prove that the State failed in this duty, and instead, committed medical malpractice, an inmate must establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the State departed from the accepted standard of medical care, and that such a departure was a substantial factor, or a proximate cause, of the inmate's claimed injury (see, Kaminsky v. State of New York, 265 A.D.2d 306; Koester v. State of New York, 90 A.D.2d 357, 361).
Applying the foregoing principles, the trial court's determination was supported by the weight of the credible evidence (see, Northern Westchester Professional Park Assoc. v. Town of Bedford, 60 N.Y.2d 492; Diaz v. State of New York, 256 A.D.2d 1010, cert denied 510 U.S. 1028; Ghazibayat v. State of New York, 184 A.D.2d 618), and judgment properly granted to the defendant.
The claimant's remaining contentions are either without merit or unpreserved for appellate review.
O'BRIEN, J.P., LUCIANO, SCHMIDT and ADAMS, JJ., concur.