ROSEN v. JOHN FOLEY SKILLED NURSING FACILITY (2007)

In an action to recover damages for medical malpractice and wrongful death, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (Doyle, J.), dated June 7, 2006, which granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.

ORDERED that the order is affirmed, with costs.

 To establish a prima facie case of liability in a medical malpractice action, a plaintiff must establish (1) the standard of care in the locality where the treatment occurred, (2) that the defendant breached that standard of care, and (3) that the breach was the proximate cause of the injury (see Pace v. Jakus, 291 A.D.2d 436, 737 N.Y.S.2d 123;  Berger v. Becker, 272 A.D.2d 565, 709 N.Y.S.2d 418).   Here, the defendants established their entitlement to judgment as a matter of law with respect to the plaintiff's cause of action alleging medical malpractice by demonstrating that they did not depart from the accepted standards of care (see Alvarez v. Prospect Hosp., 68 N.Y.2d 320, 324, 508 N.Y.S.2d 923, 501 N.E.2d 572;  Winegrad v. New York Univ. Med. Ctr., 64 N.Y.2d 851, 853, 487 N.Y.S.2d 316, 476 N.E.2d 642).

 The burden then shifted to the plaintiff to demonstrate the existence of a triable issue of fact (see Micciola v. Sacchi, 36 A.D.3d 869, 828 N.Y.S.2d 572;  Kaplan v. Hamilton Med. Assoc., 262 A.D.2d 609, 692 N.Y.S.2d 674).   Contrary to the plaintiff's contentions, the affidavit submitted by her medical expert is conclusory, and did not establish any departure from acceptable standards of skilled nursing care by the defendant John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility, particularly given the increased supervision and restraining measures already implemented with respect to the plaintiff's decedent (see DiGiaro v. Agrawal, 41 A.D.3d 764, 839 N.Y.S.2d 212;  Yamin v. Baghel, 284 A.D.2d 778, 779, 728 N.Y.S.2d 520;  Holbrook v. United Hosp. Med. Ctr., 248 A.D.2d 358, 358-359, 669 N.Y.S.2d 631).   Accordingly, the Supreme Court properly granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.

The plaintiff's remaining contentions are without merit.