ESTATE OF PATRICIA GRIECO, BY ITS ADMINISTRATOR VINCENT GRIECO AND VINCENT GRIECO, INDIVIDUALLY, VS.
HANS J. SCHMIDT, M.D. AND ADVANCED LAPAROSCOPIC ASSOCIATES
A-2392-13T4 In this medical malpractice action, plaintiffs – the estate and husband of the late Patricia Grieco – obtained leave to appeal an interlocutory order that barred witnesses from recounting what Patricia said her doctor's staff told her in response to her complaints of chest pains following surgery. The court reversed because the trial judge could not properly determine the trustworthiness of the statements, as required by N.J.R.E. 804(b)(6), without having listened to the witnesses testify at a N.J.R.E. 104 hearing. In addition, the court found the trial judge's concerns about the "hearsay within hearsay" problem were mistaken since the inner hearsay – what defendant's staff allegedly told Patricia – was admissible, N.J.R.E. 803(b)(4).
