Emergency Mistake Kills Patient, Costs Almost a Million in Expenses

A patient was rushed to the emergency department at a hospital with complaints of abdominal pain and upper gastric pain. After about two hours of waiting in the emergency department waiting room, the patient was finally brought to a bed. Another hour would pass before the treatment physician even came to see him. Subsequent EKG and cardiac enzyme tests, as well as some other tests, were declared "normal" by the treating physician.

The next day, a cardiologist reviewed the patient's chart and realized that the EKG was not normal, but in fact that the patient clearly suffered a heart attack. When the patient underwent emergency cardiac catheterization and was then transferred to another hospital for emergency heart surgery, it was already too late. The patient suffered in the hospital for three months before passing away from heart failure due to the delay in diagnosing and treating his heart attack, according to the lawsuit brought by his estate (his wife).

This resulted in over $700,000 in medical bills which subsequently created an economic loss of $600,000.
The wife is bringing this lawsuit, and appears from the basic facts to have a good case. A delay such as this, with such slothful protocol by the hospital to get him evaluated when the patient clearly had possible signs of a heart attack, made it quite obvious there was likely some negligence involved.

But cases like this-sadly-are not unique. This typically is what happens if a patient does not have the normal, "tell-tale" signs of a heart attack. Do you know someone this happened to? Your time is ticking to file a lawsuit! In some cases, as short as two and a half years from the date of the injury!! Please do not hesitate to call me-I would love to hear from you! I welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@mmolaw.net. You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.