Conn. Jury Awards $16 Million for Failure to Diagnose Heart Disease

October 5, 2007

  • October 5, 2007 at 7:30 am
    PRIOR HEART SURGERY says:
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    Right on VIP. Thinking that I’d never see my kids again @ 5 AM, kissed them, my wife drove me to the ER with real bad chest pains. Triage said that I was having indigestion and released me. I was asked to sign the release paperwork. Could not raise my hand to write. Then a nurse rushed me to a gurney and wheeled me into a room full of medical equipment. I started vomiting. Dr. shows up 1.5 hrs later. Tells my wife to sign surgery forms. She starts to ask questions. The Dr. literally screams at her saying, “Your husband has experienced a major heart attack. He needs immediate surgery!”. She signed. about 4 hours later, I opened my eyes to find myself all intubated. Wonder what would’ve happened if I had been able to sign the triage release form. My kids have grown. My wife and I have grown older and fonder of each other. I appreciate life a great deal more. There is no price tag that would have made up for this abscence. Jury people know that. We regard Drs as they themselves want to be regarded, “as Gods”. The triage fellow was an intern with great responsibility and supposed skills, talent, training. I placed my life in his hands because that is what I was supposed to do with hugely compensated medical professionals.

  • October 5, 2007 at 11:22 am
    lastbat says:
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    The lack of information in some of these articles is astounding. I’d love to say that $16M is way out of line, but we’d have to know what evidence the jury saw. I do know you can have heart disease that hides itself, but we don’t know this trucker’s medical history. I need more information before I can accurately scream “Litigation Lottery”.

  • October 5, 2007 at 1:45 am
    Claims Guy says:
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    You raise a good point….heart disease doesn’t always manifest in routine tests like an EKG or even a conventional stress test. If this guy worked 3 jobs I doubt he had much time to exercise, sleep, and eat healthy much less get regular medical check-ups. Also, the stress of working 3 jobs will take a toll. Without knowing his risk factors it’s impossible to know what happend with the verdict. On the surface though, it looks excessive. If he had to work 3 jobs and wanted to retire early (which he did) you wonder what his projected earnings were.

  • October 5, 2007 at 1:55 am
    Exadjuster says:
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    Verdicts like this empower doctors to give each paitient every expensive test/procdure in the book so they wont be sued. Who eventually pays for all this??

  • October 5, 2007 at 2:00 am
    But it's not about the money! says:
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    The family got $10 Mil in 2003 & now another $6 (or would it be another $16?) in 2007. Helluva retirement for someone! Attorneys?

  • October 5, 2007 at 2:06 am
    Melissa says:
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    Only problem is, med providers won’t pay for the more advance tests when there’s no risk factors.

  • October 5, 2007 at 2:51 am
    Mary B. says:
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    Someone find out more about this loss as there HAS to be more than want IJ is giving us. Regardless I will state this verdict is outrageous and disgusting.

    I will google it and see what I can find.

  • October 5, 2007 at 5:55 am
    V I P says:
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    Here is what I found with a quick google

    http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1068651211747

    Maybe the greedy plaintiff label doesn’t apply here – says she offered to settle for policy limits but the ins co wanted to fight it out – also that he had severe chest pains and the Doc prescribed antacids. I would have to agree that is
    not a standard of care I would find acceptable. Still, if it was me, I would have gotten a 2nd opinion or pushed for more tests – people trust docs way too much – better trust yourself first. If you think it’s more than indigestion, it probably is !

  • October 6, 2007 at 1:29 am
    mcheck57 says:
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    I guess profits are more important than people’s lives. Let’s be objective here!!!!

  • October 8, 2007 at 8:57 am
    Frankie says:
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    Doctors are human. They make mistakes. Only when they do, they consequences can be much more severe. Are you telling me you never made a bad judgement call?



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