On February 7, 2023, an appellate court agreed with a New York County Supreme Court Judge who dismissed a medical malpractice claim of unnecessary surgery against a pathologist. The patient/plaintiff had filed suit against his surgeon and a pathologist claiming the removal of his pancreas was unnecessary. The pathologist's report determined that the cell's collected from a needle aspiration were atypical but not malignant. The surgeon testified at his deposition that he considered the pathology report in addition to many other factors (family history, blood tests, CT scans, medical history and the virulent nature of pancreatic cancer) but - no single factor which informed his decision. The lower court "found that any error in the pathology report prepared by the pathologist concerning the number of cells collected in the fine needle aspiration, to the extent there was an error, was not a proximate cause of any injuries to plaintiff." Padilla v Labow, 2023 WL 1786602