Topel v. Long Island Jewish Medical Center

Most respectfully, I suggest that the court’s holding accords with neither fact nor law. Worse, in disturbing basic legal doctrine, it relies almost entirely on Centeno v City of New York (40 NY2d 932, affg 48 AD2d 812), which, as I propose to show, is an aberrational decision to which we should not defer (see People v Hobson, 39 NY2d 479, 487-488).

In this medical malpractice action for wrongful death, brought on behalf of the widow and children of Harold B. Topel against Dr. Harold Levinson, a psychiatrist, a classical prima facie case was established.1 A highly qualified specialist in this…