## Facts

- Angelina A. Chin, age 45, underwent a diagnostic hysteroscopy at St. Barnabas Medical Center performed by Dr. Herbert Goldfarb, assisted by operating-room nurses including Teresa Leib and Nancy Hofgesang.
- The procedure required a pump system to deliver fluid into the uterus through connected tubing.
- Nitrogen gas was pumped into Chin instead of fluid, causing an air embolism and her death.
- The fatal event was caused by an incorrect hook-up/misconnection of the hysteroscopy pump apparatus.
- The precise tubing configuration could not be reconstructed because the tubing was removed shortly after Chin suffered cardiac arrest.
- The estate sued the physician, hospital, nurses, and the equipment manufacturer, alleging medical malpractice and wrongful death.
- The trial court directed a verdict for the manufacturer due to lack of evidence of product defect.
- A jury found negligence and allocated fault among the remaining defendants; the trial court later granted JNOV for the hospital and nurses, leaving judgment against the physician only.
- Appellate proceedings followed, and the New Jersey Supreme Court reviewed burden-shifting, applicability of the common knowledge doctrine, and whether JNOV was proper.

## Issues

1. When an unconscious, blameless patient suffers an injury that plainly indicates negligence and all potentially responsible defendants are joined, whether the burden of proving non-culpability shifts to defendants under Anderson v. Somberg.
2. Whether the common knowledge doctrine permits a jury to determine negligence without expert testimony where the alleged malpractice is an obvious equipment misconnection.
3. Whether the evidence supported the jury’s allocation of fault among the hospital, nurses, and physician, making JNOV improper.

## Decision

- The court held that Anderson-style burden shifting applied: once plaintiff showed an injury bespeaking negligence with all plausible defendants before the court, defendants bore the burden to prove their own non-culpability.
- The court held the common knowledge doctrine applied because the core negligence—misconnecting equipment so gas entered the patient—was understandable to lay jurors without expert standard-of-care proof.
- The court reversed the JNOV for the hospital and nurses and reinstated the jury’s verdict and allocation of fault against them.
- The court affirmed the directed verdict dismissing the manufacturer for lack of evidence of a product defect.
- The matter was remanded for further proceedings consistent with these rulings.

## Legal Principles

- In certain multi-defendant medical malpractice cases involving a blameless, unconscious patient and an occurrence that itself indicates negligence, the burden may shift to defendants to demonstrate their lack of fault (Anderson v. Somberg doctrine).
- The common knowledge doctrine allows a malpractice claim to proceed without expert testimony when the alleged negligence is readily apparent to ordinary jurors and the dispute turns primarily on factual responsibility rather than professional judgment.
- JNOV is improper where the record provides a reasonable basis for the jury’s negligence findings and allocation of fault, particularly where evidentiary uncertainty is tied to circumstances within defendants’ control.
- A manufacturer is not liable absent proof of a product defect; lack of such evidence warrants dismissal as a matter of law.

## Conclusion

The court applied Anderson burden shifting and the common knowledge doctrine to reinstate the jury’s verdict against the hospital and nurses for a fatal, obviously negligent equipment misconnection during surgery, while affirming dismissal of the manufacturer for lack of defect evidence.


Estate of Chin v. St. Barnabas Med. Ctr., 160 N.J. 454, 734 A.2d 778 (N.J. 1999)