Injury: Death from pulmonary embolism following discharge from hospital by ER Doctor
Age of Patient at Injury: 39 years old
Result: $1.2 Million Settlement
Court: Camden County, NJ
Comments: Our client was a husband and father of two young children at the time of his untimely death. Prior to his fateful emergency room visit he had recurrent symptoms of cough, shortness of breath and leg pain. The patient was seen by both his family doctor in the weeks preceding his death and was also seen in the emergency room of the NJ hospital where simple diagnostic studies were not performed. The patient died from a pulmonary embolism (blood clot to the lung) shortly after discharge from the NJ hospital’s emergency room, leaving his young family behind. Our medical experts were able to show that it was unreasonable for the doctors to have missed the clear signs and symptoms of a pulmonary embolism and to perform simple diagnostic testing or admit him to the hospital instead of discharging him. Unfortunately this decision to discharge patients from emergency rooms with symptoms is all too common. The Defendants settled with the patient’s family prior to jury selection.