A middle-aged man visited the emergency room complaining of shortness of breath and chest tightness. He was a smoker and was on medications for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Following an EKG, which the emergency room physician assessed as “fairly normal,” the man was advised to see his primary care physician and was released. He did see his physician that same day but did not complain of chest pain and was thought to have reactive airway disease. Two days later, the man was brought back to the emergency room by ambulance, complaining of chest pain and was found to have had a cardiac event. He underwent angioplasty and stenting but had a difficult medical course and died of multi-organ failure approximately 15 months later at 48-years-old. If he had been hospitalized upon his first visit to the emergency room and undergone stenting at that time, the cardiac event two days later would not have occurred. Dan Hodes obtained a settlement of $975,000 on behalf of his family.
(Last Updated On: November 5, 2018)
