CLIFF v. SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL (2002)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Joseph Teresi, J.), entered March 21, 2001, upon a jury verdict, in defendants' favor, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

 The verdict in this medical malpractice action was based on a fair interpretation of the evidence (see Nicastro v. Park, 113 A.D.2d 129, 134, 495 N.Y.S.2d 184), and all factual disputes, including those relating to resolution of conflicting expert opinions (see Seay v. Greenidge, 292 A.D.2d 173, 738 N.Y.S.2d 199), were properly put before the jury.   The evidence did not require the jury to find that defendants' negligence was the cause of the unexplained appearance of a plastic bag in plaintiff's decedent's possession on the locked psychiatric ward (see O'Connor v. State of New York, 58 A.D.2d 663, 395 N.Y.S.2d 715).   Nor did the evidence furnish a predicate necessitating findings that the medical judgment exercised by defendants constituted malpractice, especially during the last three days of decedent's life.   The evidence before it enabled the jury fairly to conclude that the failure to perceive a sudden need to confiscate the decedent's belt after an earlier judgment had been made that he could keep it, and the decision to have hospital staff visually check on the decedent less often than once every 15 minutes, did not, under all the circumstances, constitute departures from good and sound medical practice (see Gordon v. City of New York, 70 N.Y.2d 839, 841-842, 523 N.Y.S.2d 445, 517 N.E.2d 1331;  and see Topel v. Long Is. Jewish Med. Ctr., 55 N.Y.2d 682, 684-685, 446 N.Y.S.2d 932, 431 N.E.2d 293).