Many people in Illinois and across the country put their lives in the hands of medical professionals when they are ill. We trust that medical professionals have the experience and training to make decisions that will keep us safe. When mistakes are made that result in a person’s death a family may decide to file a wrongful death suit.
The family of a Philadelphia man who recently died of a massive heart attack just months after being released from the hospital recently filed a wrongful death suit. The complaint was filed against a handful of defendants including the hospital where the man was treated and one of his physicians. The suit alleged that it was the negligence of the defendants that caused his death.
According to the report, the 38-year-old man was rushed to the hospital after he began to feel chest and shoulder pain while playing basketball in May of 2009. He was diagnosed with pneumonia and syncope before being discharged later that day. Three months later, the man suffered a seizure and was later diagnosed with an acute heart attack with cardiac arrest and anoxic brain injury.
The man was placed on medical ventilation and moved to a long-term facility, but died in November of that year. The lawsuit claimed negligence saying the doctors failed to order cardiac biomarkers and a lipid panel for the man, who had an elevated white blood cell count at the time of the incident. The suit was filed on behalf of the man’s five children who ranged in age from 1-year-old to 8-years-old at the time of the incident. The children will receive $6.4 million.
Source: The Pennsylvania Record, “Phila. jury renders $6.4 million plaintiffs’ verdict in medical malpractice, wrongful death case,” Jon Campisi, June 7, 2012
