Wrongful death – Patient dies after premature discharge and failure to address heart monitor abnormality
Recovery in medical malpractice case for adult children of a 64-year-old man who was discharged prematurely from the hospital after suffering a cardiac event. The physician placed the patient on a portable heart monitor, which the physician believed would detect any abnormalities, rather than keeping the patient in the hospital. Hours after the discharge, the heart monitor showed a treatable but life-threatening arrhythmia that the heart monitoring company did not address, leaving the man to die in his home. The case was litigated vigorously for six years including a discovery complaint and over a dozen depositions, settling only a couple of months prior to trial.