Georgievski v. Robins

178 A.D.3d 427

113 N.Y.S.3d 65

Gorgi GEORGIEVSKI, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.Howard F. ROBINS, Defendant–Respondent.

10368

Index 8000001/16

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.

ENTERED: DECEMBER 3, 2019

Gorgi Georgievski, appellant pro se.

Lewis Johs Avallone Aviles, LLP, New York (Theresa Scotto–Lavino of counsel), for respondent.

Manzanet–Daniels, J.P., Tom, Kapnick, Gesmer, Singh, JJ.

Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Joan A. Madden, J.), entered January 17, 2019, which granted defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, and denied plaintiff's motion for summary judgment on liability, unanimously modified, on the law, to deny defendant's motion, and otherwise affirmed without costs.

In this medical malpractice action, plaintiff testified that after he saw an advertisement by defendant in a magazine about alternative medicine he sought treatment from defendant for Lyme disease. Defendant is a licensed podiatrist who the record shows told plaintiff that he could treat a host of incurable non-podiatric conditions. Defendant wrote in plaintiff's medical records that plaintiff suffered from varicose veins, and recommended that plaintiff take part in his ozone therapy study. It is undisputed that this treatment is not FDA-approved. Following the third session of this therapy, defendant noted in the medical record, plaintiff fell asleep, and on waking became confused and disoriented. He was taken and admitted to a hospital, where he was examined and found, inter alia, to have left-sided weakness and paralysis. Although there was an initial concern that plaintiff had suffered a stroke, and he was evaluated for a possible stroke and seizure, this was not a conclusive diagnosis. Nevertheless, plaintiff was kept in the hospital from October 26, 2013, the date of his admission, until he was discharged on November 8, 2013, which would seem to suggest that plaintiff was suffering a valid, even if undiagnosed, medical condition. Plaintiff claims that after he was released from the hospital he was confined to bed for three months, and that inflammation caused by the ozone therapy damaged veins in his forearms, and that inflammation of his brain and nerves resulted in paralysis of his limbs and face, memory loss, lack of concentration, chronic fatigue, personality changes, and other physical and neurological injuries that some evidence shows may be associated with ozone therapy.

Defendant has a history of being accused of using his putative study of...