Doc ‘test’y in surgery

Malpractice suit

A Westchester woman is suing a surgeon for allegedly taking a Spanish test on his cellphone — while he operated on her.

Mary Edwards claims that Dr. Eric Fishman then tried to explain away the egregious misconduct by telling her it was his only “free” moment to work on his language skills.

Edwards, 70, went under Fishman’s knife in September for her varicose veins at Westmed Medical Group in Purchase.

She says she was only under local anesthesia and aware of what was happening around her, and heard the surgeon make phone calls in English and Spanish — including one about breast milk, and another about his battles with diabetes, blurred vision and “night sweats,” the suit says.

When she confronted Fishman after the procedure, he casually told her he’d been taking a “language proficiency exam” and it was the “only” moment he had to do it, ac- cording to the lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in White Plains.

“Dr. Fishman further explained to Ms. Edwards that he operates on Spanishspeaking clients and, as such, he needs to be certified in the Spanish Language,” the suit reads.

Plaintiff ’s lawyer Katie Wendle said her client was terrified to hear him say his vision was impaired.

“What scared her so much is to be open on the operating table, with a doctor who was saying he had blurry vision,” Wendle said on Edwards’ behalf.

“She heard her doctor say he suffered from night sweats, from blurry vision. She didn’t have any reason to doubt that.”

Fishman later copped to the horrifying behavior to his higher-ups in a meeting with Edwards, according to Wendle and the suit. It’s unclear if the medical facility took any action against him.

Edwards is suing Fishman for unspecified damages.

Neither he nor the medical facility returned messages seeking comment.