Estate of Chin v. St. Barnabas Medical Center

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

HANDLER, J.

This case requires the Court to consider the application of the doctrine first developed nearly twenty-five years ago in Anderson v. Somberg, 67 N.J. 291, 338 A.2d 1, cert. denied, 423 U.S. 929, 96 S.Ct. 279, 46 L.Ed.2d 258 (1975). In that decision, a medical malpractice case, the Court held that where a blameless and unconscious patient suffers an injury, the defendants charged with malpractice or fault bear the burden of proving their non-culpability for the plaintiffs injury.

The case before the Court involves a patient who died from an…