$360,000 Settlement for Failure to Diagnose Cardiac Condition

The firm settled a medical malpractice wrongful death case for $360,000. The case involved a diabetic woman, over 50 years of age, who came to the emergency room complaining of severe shortness of breath. She had several warning signs which should have made the doctors caring for her aware that she was in fact suffering from “acute myocardial ischemia” – a normally painful and serious condition where the heart is deprived of oxygen, causing death of the heart muscle. However, because she did not complain of chest pain when she was admitted to the ER, her doctors misdiagnosed her condition as a severe asthma attack. She spent more than 10 hours in the emergency room before finally suffering a massive cardiac arrest resulting in her death.

The firm worked with medical experts to show that this woman, because of her history and age, was far less likely to have chest pain when experiencing the initial stages of a serious cardiac event, and, in light of that, she should have been given the appropriate cardiac evaluation and treatment. The case settled on behalf of the estate of the deceased woman for $360,000 on the first day of trial.