Jury finds that doctor errors and misdiagnosis led to man's death

When a patient in New York becomes suddenly sick and is unable to get an appointment with their general physician, they often visit the emergency room. When they do this, they expect the physician in the ER to accurately and timely diagnose their condition based upon the symptoms that they are presenting. Unfortunately, this does not always happen and these doctor errors can result in the possible wrongful death of a patient. Luckily, for some patients or their left-behind loved ones, a jury could agree with their side of the story and award them with pecuniary damages.

Based upon the accusations of the wife in a recent medical malpractice case, this appears to be what has happened in another state. A man went into the ER after feeling sick for a couple of days. It started off as just feeling nauseous. However, it turned to chest pain and other signs of a heart problem.

While the man was at the hospital, he continued complaining of symptoms related to that of a heart condition. However, the attending physician did not order any scans or tests to rule out a heart attack or any other form of heart disease. Instead, the patient was released after several hours.

Shortly after, he died from a heart attack. The medical malpractice lawsuit filed in Alabama stated that the attending physician in the emergency room did not follow the rules regarding the standard of care of a patient. Otherwise, he would have ordered the necessary scans and blood tests that would have shown that there was cardiac damage. The jury felt that this was true and awarded the wife with a $4 million verdict.

It appears as though the jury felt this was a fairly straightforward case of medical malpractice. This case illustrates that injured patients or loved ones who have lost an individual in New York due to the negligence of a medical professional have legal rights. It is possible that a lawsuit can bring financial relief for medical bills, lost wages and other related expenses that arise after such a tragic accident when doctor errors have occurred.

Source: al.com, "Walker County jury awards woman $4 million in medical malpractice case", Kent Faulk, Aug. 20, 2014

Source: al.com, "Walker County jury awards woman $4 million in medical malpractice case", Kent Faulk, Aug. 20, 2014