Applewhite v. Accuhealth, Inc.

Saxe, J. (concurring in part and dissenting in part).

This appeal concerns the scope of the duty owed by a nurse to a patient, a relatively new and developing area of tort law. As the Court of Appeals has noted in Bleiler v Bodnar (65 NY2d 65 [1985]),

“the role of the registered nurse has changed, in the last few decades, from that of a passive, servile employee to that of an assertive, decisive health care provider. Today, the professional nurse monitors complex physiological data, operates sophisticated lifesaving equipment, and coordinates the delivery of a myriad of patient services. As a…