Confidential
Settlement – $130,000Court
L.A. Superior Central
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Daniel M. Hodes
(Hodes Milman LLP)
Defendant
Laura E. Inlow
(Collinson, Daehnke, Inlow & Greco)
Facts
On May 26, 1998, the patient, a 58-year-old mother, presented to the ER with the chief complaint of shortness of
breath for two weeks, which had gotten worse. ABGs revealed marked hypoxia. Chest X-rays were read as
suggestive of congestive heart failure.
The patient was admitted under the care of internist defendant, whose diagnosis was congestive heart failure,
but "ruled out pulmonary embolism." He arranged for the patient to be seen by defendant pulmonologist the
following day, and also by a cardiologist.
An echocardiogram was undertaken the following morning, and showed a pulmonary pressure of 72 mm/Hg,
with an enlarged right ventricle. The patient continued to be clinically short of breath and markedly hypoxic per
ABG. She required a 100 percent non-rebreather mask to maintain saturations at 90 percent.
During the early morning hours of May 28, the patient went into respiratory arrest. Resuscitative efforts failed.
An autopsy scheduled by the family confirmed that the decedent died from a massive saddle embolus thrown
from the left lower extremity.
Other Information
The case had been filed in pro per. The cardiologist who performed and read the echocardiogram on May 27, 1998 was not initially named. He was DoeÆd in by plaintiffsÆ counsel, but Judge Susan Bryant-Deason severed him from the case in chief, and that matter is separately pending. The case partially resolved following mediation with Harold Hunter.
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