Urology Expert’s Opinion on Reusing Single-Use Catheters Admitted
Posted on May 2, 2025 by Expert Witness Profiler
Plaintiffs are the wheelchair-bound current or former inmates of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (“DOCCS”) who must self-catheterize themselves multiple times per day in order to urinate. Plaintiffs claimed that they experienced violation of their federal civil rights, and discrimination on the basis of their disabilities.
Urologist Ezekiel Young, M.D., opined that the DOCCS’ policy of requiring inmates to re-use single-use catheters fell well-below the accepted standard of care.
However, DOCCS relied entirely on the expert report of Gabriel Haas, M.D. According to Haas, “the United Kingdom National Health Service Trust Guidelines currently state that catheters may be re-used up to a week and provide instruction how to re-use catheters.”
Plaintiff contended that the Court should preclude Haas’s opinion as unreliable, under Daubert and Rule 702.
Urology Expert Witness
Gabriel Haas, M.D., is a physician licensed to practice medicine in the state of New York. He is board certified by the American Board of Urology.
Haas is employed as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Urology of SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. He has held this position for 10 years.
He has worked as a clinical urologist for 15 years.
Discussion By the Court
Plaintiffs contended that they were entitled to summary judgment since the opinion of their medical expert, Young, that re-using single use catheters violated the standard of care, is essentially undisputed inasmuch as the contrary opinion of Haas is unreliable.
The Court found that there is a triable issue of fact precluding summary judgment, due to the disagreement between the opinions of Young and Haas regarding the propriety of re-using single-use catheters. In particular, Young opined that such catheters should never be re-used, while Haas indicated that they may safely be re-used.
Plaintiffs contended that Haas’ entire opinion should be precluded as unreliable, since it is partially based on a mistaken reading of one of its supporting documents, “the United Kingdom National Health Service Trust Guidelines.”
However, the Court found that Plaintiffs’ objection goes to the weight, and not the admissibility, of Haas’ report.
Contrary to both Young’s opinion that it was clearly improper to require Plaintiffs’ to re-use single use catheters and Plaintiffs’ assertion that such re-use caused their urinary tract infections, Haas indicated that such catheters may be safely re-used, and that urinary tract infections are not necessarily caused by such re-use. Moreover, neither Young’s expert report nor his supporting declaration opined that Plaintiffs were given and/or injured by improperly-sized catheters.
The Court found that Plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment must be denied since there is a triable issue of fact concerning the standard of care.
Held
The Court denied the Plaintiff’s request to preclude Gabriel Haas’ expert report.
Key Takeaway:
The Court held that Haas’ overall opinion is not unreliable just because it is partially based on a reading of one of its supporting documents, “the United Kingdom National Health Service Trust Guidelines.” Haas indicated that single use catheters may be safely re-used, and that urinary tract infections are not necessarily caused by such re-use.
Case Details:
| Case Caption: | Sharif v. Fischer |
| Docket Number: | 6:05cv6504 |
| Court Name: | United States District Court, New York Western |
| Order Date: | April 28, 2025 |
