Preview
FILED: QUEENS COUNTY CLERK 06/16/2021 01:34 AM INDEX NO. 717964/2018
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 141 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 06/16/2021
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF QUEENS
•X
THERESA ROBINSON and DEREK ROBINSON,
Plaintiffs,
Index No.
- against - 717964/201
NORTHWELL HEALTH, INC., LONG ISLAND JEWISH
MEDICAL CENTER, DEEPAK NANDA, MD, PC,
DEEPAK NANDA, MD and EMMANUEL M. PAFOS, MD,
Defendants.
•X
via Zoom Videoconference
December 30, 2020
10:06 a.m.
DEPOSITION of LONG ISLAND JEWISH MEDICAL
CENTER, Defendant, by OMID ROFEIM, MD, taken by
Plaintiff, pursuant to Article 31 of the Civil
Practice Law and Rules of Testimony, and Order, held
at the above-noted time and place, before Donna C.
Gilmore, a Stenotype Reporter and Notary Public
within and for the State of New York.
ORIGINAL
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APPEARANCES:
THE PAGLINAWAN LAW FIRM, PC
Attorneys for Plaintiff
118-21 Queens Boulevard, Suite 501
Forest Hills, New York 11375
BY: JAMES S. PAGLINAWAN, ESQ.
AARONSON, RAPPAPORT, FEINSTEIN & DEUTSCH, LLP
Attorneys for Defendants
NORTHWELL HEALTH, INC. and LONG ISLAND
10 JEWISH MEDICAL CENTER
600 Third Avenue
11 New York, New York 10016
12 BY: YANIQUE BURKE, ESQ.
13
14 RUBIN, PATERNITI, GONZALEZ & KAUFMAN, LLP
Attorneys for Defendants
15 DEEPAK NANDA, MD, PC and DEEPAK NANDA, MD
555 Fifth Avenue, 6th Floor
16 New York, New York 10017
17 BY: STEVEN KRAUS, ESQ.
18
rg- GALVANO & XANTHAKIS, PC
Attorneys for Defendant
20 EMMANUEL M. PAFOS, MD
358 St. Marks Place, Suite 202
21 Staten Island, New York 10301
22 BY: ANTHONY XANTHAKIS, ESQ.
23
24
25
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2 STIPULATIONS
3
4 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and between the
5 attorneys for the respective parties hereto, that:
6 All rights provided by the C.P.L.R., and Part 221
7 of the Uniform Rules for the Conduct of Depositions,
8 including the right to object to any question, except
9 as to form, or to move to strike any testimony at this
10 examination is reserved; and in addition, the failure
11 to object to any question or to move to strike any
12 testimony at this examination shall not be a bar or
13 waiver to make such motion at, and is reserved to,
14 the trial of this action.
15 This deposition may be sworn to by the witness
16 being examined before a Notary Public other than the
17 Notary Public before whom this examination was begun,
18 but the failure to do so or to return the original
19 of this deposition to counsel, shall not be deemed a
20 waiver of the rights provided by Rule 3116 of the
21 C.P.L.R., and shall be controlled thereby. The filing
22 of the original of this deposition is waived.
23 IT IS FURTHER STIPULATED, that a copy of this
24 examination shall be furnished to the attorney for
25 the witness being examined without charge.
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1
2 THE REPORTER: Mr. Kraus, are you
3 ordering a copy of this transcript and
4 paying for it?
5 MR. KRAUS: I am. I just need a
6 regular transcript and then an e-mail
7 copy. Okay? No mini or anything like
8 that.
9 THE REPORTER: Mr. Xanthakis, are you
10 ordering a copy of this transcript and
11 paying for it?
12 MR. XANTHAKIS: Yes, and you can just
13 send me an electronic copy, I do not need
14 a hard copy. So just an e-mail will do.
15 {Curriculum vitae was premarked as
16 Plaintiff's Exhibit 1, and Follow-up note,
17 4/25/16 was premarked as Plaintiff's
18 Exhibit 2, for identification, as of this
19 date.)
20 OMID ROFEIM, MD,
21 called on behalf of LONG ISLAND JEWISH MEDICAL
22 CENTER, Defendant, having first been duly sworn
23 by the Notary Public, was examined and
24 testified as follows:
25
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5
1 Omid Rofeim, MD
2 EXAMINATION BY
3 MR. PAGLINAWAN:
4 Q Please state your name for the record.
5 A Omid Rofeim, MD.
6 Q Please state your address for the record.
7 A 233 7th Street, Garden City, New York
8 11530 .
9 Q Good morning. Dr. Rofeim. My name is
10 James S. Paglinawan, and I work for the Paglinawan
11 Firm, PC , which is the law firm that represents
12 Theresa Robinson and Derek Robinson, the plaintiffs
13 in this case, a case involving a medical malpractice
14 claim against Northwell, Inc. and -- Northwell
15 Health, Inc. and Long Island Jewish Medical Center,
16 and I am deposing you as a witness from those
17 institutions.
18 Today I’ll be asking you some questions
19 related to the care and treatment that you provided
20 to Theresa Robinson at Long Island Jewish Medical
21 Center. I will begin --
22 MS. BURKE: James, I'm sorry to
23 interrupt. It's -- okay, go ahead. I'm
24 sorry. I'm sorry.
25 Q I'll begin by going over some basic rules
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1 Omid Rofeim, MD
2 with you.
3 First, if for some reason you're not able
4 to understand my question, if we have a bad
5 reception, if for some reason, you know, I disappear
6 on the screen, I want you to let me know right away
1 so that I can rephrase the question or repeat the
8 question or do whatever it takes for you to be able
9 to understand the question so that you can respond
10 accordingly. And as you know, this is a video
11 deposition and we may encounter some technical
12 difficulties every now and then. I don't anticipate
13 that we will have any Internet connection issues;
14 however, the other parties may have an issue, so if
15 that happens we may have to stop a bit and wait for
16 everybody to be online again.
13 I need for you to wait until I'm finished
18 asking the question before you start to answer, even
19 though sometimes you're able to guess what the
20 question is. Also, we need for you to use spoken
21 words rather than using nonverbal gestures only so
22 that the court reporter, Ms. Gilmore, can take down
23 your testimony.
24 If you need to take a break during the
25 deposition it's not an issue unless there is a
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1 Omid Rofeim, MD
2 pending question. If there is a pending question
3 and you have to take a break, I will just ask that
4 you answer the question and then you can take a
5 break.
6 Are you clear with respect to the rules of
7 the deposition?
8 A Yes .
9 Q We marked today as Plaintiff's Exhibit
10 No. 1 for identification what is a document, and
11 your counsel has a copy of it. And I want you to
12 tell us what this document is.
13 A That's my resume.
14 Q And when was the last time you updated
15 this resume?
16 A Several years ago. I don't remember the
17 exact date.
18 Q As of today would you say that this resume
19 is up to date?
20 A Yes .
21 Q Where do you currently work?
22 A Smith Institute for Urology.
23 Q And in 2016 who were you employed by?
24 A Same location. Smith Institute for
25 Urology, which is part of Northwell.
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1 Omid Rofeim, MD
2 Q At some point were you ever employed by
3 Long Island Jewish Medical Center?
4 A I believe it's the same entity.
5 Q So fair to say that in 2016 you were an
6 employee of Long Island Jewish Medical Center?
7 MS, BURKE: By way of counsel, yes.
8 You know what? Sometimes it's not that
9 easy for the witnesses to distinguish, but
10 I just want to say by counsel, he was
11 employed by the hospital.
12 MR. PAGLINAWAN: Okay. So there's no
13 dispute, Ms. Burke, you're not disputing
14 that, correct?
15 MS. BURKE; Right.
16 MR. PAGLINAWAN: We can agree on that.
17 okay then.
18 MS. BURKE: Only that.
19 MR. PAGLINAWAN: Okay.
20 Q Are you currently licensed to practice as
21 a physician in New York State?
22 A Yes .
23 Q When did you obtain that license?
24 A I have to look into my resume.
25 I'm not sure the exact date. I believe it
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1 Omid Rofeim, MD
2 was either 2003 or 2005.
3 Q And are you licensed to practice as a
4 physician in any other states or jurisdictions?
5 A No.
6 Q And in 2016 were you working at Long
7 Island Jewish Medical Center as a urologist?
8 A Yes .
9 Q And your c.v. which we marked as
10 Plaintiff s Exhibit No. 1 today states that you are
11 board certified in urology, correct?
12 A Yes .
13 Q And you obtained that board certification
14 in February of 2005, correct?
15 A Yes .
16 Q Now, since 2005, did you have to renew
17 that board certification every now and then?
18 A Yes .
19 Q How frequently?
20 A Every ten years.
21 Q So the last time you renewed it was around
22 2015 --
23 A Yes .
24 Q -- is that correct?
25 Very briefly, what is the specialty of
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1 Omid Rofeim, MD
2 urology, what does it entail?
3 A It’s a very broad specialty dealing with
4 the urinary system in general; kidney, bladder,
5 prostate, both benign and malignant conditions.
6 Q In 2015 as a urologist at Long Island
7 Jewish Medical Center, didyou every now and then
8 repair bladder injuries?
9 A Yes.
10 Q As of April of 2016, and I just need an
11 approximate number, about how many times have you
12 performed a repair of a bladder injury?
13 MS. BURKE: To the extent that you can
14 estimate.
15 A It’s a very difficultquestion to
16 approximate, like, you know, any other procedure
17 that you do over, you know, training and 10, 15
18 years in practice. I don’t know if any number I'd
19 give you would be even a close approximation,
20 because that is not something I keep a track of. I
21 would say probably in the 10 per year, 10 to 20 per
22 year. That would be a very rough estimate.
23 Q And your c.v. says that you completed your
24 residency at Long Island Jewish Medical Center,
25 correct?
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1 Omid Rofeim, MD
2 A Yes .
3 Q And that residency was how long?
4 A Four years of urology and two years of
5 general surgery, total of six years.
6 Q So during the six years that you were
7 completing the residency at Long Island Jewish
8 Medical Center, did you perform repair of bladder
9 inj uries 9
10 A Yes .
11 Q Your c.v. also mentions a list of your
12 publications beginning from I think page 2 onwards.
13 Is that an updated list of all your journal
14 publications?
15 A Yes .
16 Q Have you ever published any medical
17 articles related to repair of bladder injuries?
18 A No.
19 Q So let's talk about your schedule at Long
20 Island Jewish Medical Center. Back in 2016, what
21 was your typical schedule that year?
22 A The schedule is mainly in the office.
23 We're only in the hospital to perform surgeries. So
24 I'm not at Long Island Jewish Hospital. I am in my
25 office in Garden City.
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1 Omid Rofeim, MD
2 Q Were there certain times that you were
3 what is called on call at Long Island Jewish Medical
4 Center in 2016?
5 A Yes.
6 Q About how many times per month were you
1 given on-call responsibilities?
8 A Schedule varies, and I don't recall what
9 the schedule was in 2016. But it's generally one
10 week every two to three months.
11 Q And what was your exact title at Long
12 Island Jewish Medical Center in 2016 as a physician?
13 A I believe physician, physician on staff.
14 Q Were you an attending physician then?
15 A Yes. Yes.
16 Q Did you have any teaching responsibilities
17 at Long Island Jewish Medical Center at that time?
18 A Whenever we interact with residents, it is
19 considered a teaching moment, so yes.
20 Q In 2016, if you were on call and another
21 physician wanted to contact you, how is that done,
22 typically, in 2016?
23 A There are several ways. Either the
24 physician contacts me directly or their service
25 contacts our service, resident to resident, and
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1 Omid Rofeim, MD
2 residents contact the attendings, depending on where
3 the call is coming from, emergency room contact us
4 on the floor or contact in other locations. There's
5 not one specific way.
6 Q To prepare for this deposition, did you
7 review any documents?
8 A I reviewed my notes from the chart.
9 Q Other than your notes, did you review any
10 other documents?
11 A No .
12 Q Did you review any films of any
13 radiological studies performed on Ms. Robinson?
14 A I reviewed the reports of the radiological
15 tests.
16 Q And you didn't review the actual films 9
17 A I did not review the actual films for the
18 preparation for the testimony.
19 Q Before you reviewed this patient's chart
20 from Long Island Jewish Medical Center, did you at
21 all have any independent recollection of this
22 patient?
23 A No.
24 Q For the purposes of the deposition I may
25 refer to Ms. Robinson as Ms. Robinson or
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1 Omid Rofeim, MD
2 alternatively patient, okay, so that we're clear in
3 terms of the terms that I'm using.
4 So we previously marked as Plaintiff's
5 Exhibit No. 2 a paginated certified medical records
6 from Long Island Jewish Medical Center of this
7 patient, and your counsel should have a copy of it.
8 MS. BURKE: We do.
9 Q So you may refer to those records if you
10 need them to be able to respond to my questions
11 regarding the care and treatment that you provided
12 to this patient. Okay?
13 A Yes .
14 Q So based on your review of this patient's
15 chart of Long Island Jewish Medical Center, did you
16 determine that at some point you provided care and
17 treatment to this patient?
18 A Yes .
19 Q When was that?
20 A The exact date?
21 Q Yes .
22 A April 13, 2016.
23 Q And around what time did you see this
24 patient initially at Long Island Jewish Medical
25 Center?
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1 Omid Rofeim, MD
2 A I do not recall the time. Sometime
3 overnight, based on the note.
4 Q So like in the wee hours, right, of the
5 morning ?
6 A Yes, it was probably early hours of the
7 morning.
8 Q So how did you come to see this patient?
9 A 1 may have been contacted by the team or
10 by a resident.
11 Q So let’ s go over a specific page here , so
12 that we establish some timelines quite a bit. On
13 page 62, there's a document called anesthesia
14 record.
15 MS . BURKE: One second, trying to get
16 there.
17 MR. PAGLINAWAN: Is that what you
18 have —
19 MS . BURKE: Yes —
20 MR. PAGLINAWAN: -- 62 -- okay.
21 MS . BURKE: -- anesthesia record.
22 MR. PAGLINAWAN: Yeah.
23 Q So let' s go to the last page of this.
24 where it says here on top, 1:21 a.m.,
25 1000 milliliters. right, and then below that it
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1 Omid Rofeim, MD
2 says , I think it says 1:31, it says here, "OB
3 discussing bladder injury patient. Urology called."
4 And then going further down it says 2:50
5 — I think it says 2:56, right , "surgeon requests
6 methylene blue," 2:58 or 2:56, it's not clear to me
7 what that is .
8 MR. PAGLINAWAN: Are you able to read
9 it, Yanique? Is it 2:58 or --
10 MS. BURKE: You' re on page 62?
11 MR. PAGLINAWAN: On 64 .
12 MS. BURKE: Oh, 64, Okay.
13 MR. PAGLINAWAN: Yeah. So anesthesia
14 record begins 62 and then we're looking at
15 the last page of anesthesia record.
16 MS. BURKE: Okay , the last page.
17 MR. PAGLINAWAN: Yeah, I think it
18 looks like it's 2:56 or 2:58. 1 can't
19 tell, it's not very clear.
20 MS. BURKE: I'm not sure either. It
21 looks like it could be a 6, but I'm not
22 sure.
23 MR. PAGLINAWAN; Okay.
24 Q Where it says, "Dr. Rofeim starts bladder
25 repair,"
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