Confidential
Settlement – $875,000Facts
The patient, a 57-year-old man with a history of asthma, complained of chest pains and saw a doctor at an HMO walk-in clinic. He was diagnosed with asthma flare and was told to see his primary care doctor in five days, after new medicine was taken for asthma. The patient returned to the HMO clinic 10 days later with ongoing chest and back pain. The patient's wife accompanied her husband to the examination and also related to the doctor that her husband had tarry stools for the previous few days. The doctor denied this report by the patient and his wife. The next day, the patient saw his primary physician. Labs were taken and Vicodin given for ongoing chest and back pain. The wife claimed that her husband told her he discussed tarry stools with the doctor and was told it was a reaction to new asthma medications. The diagnosis of asthma and underlying anxiety was made by the physician. Two days later, the wife drove her husband to the primary care physician again, where he had to be wheelchaired into the examination due to pain in his chest, abdomen and back pain. The wife was in the examination room when the doctor told him to relax, that he was having an anxiety attack. The wife asked the doctor what was causing tarry stools. The doctor denied he was ever asked this. A narcotic for the pain was given to the patient. Labs from an earlier visit noted the high BUN levels. The patient felt better after the Toradol injection and was released home for asthma control. Twenty-four hours later, the patient went by ambulance to the ER for pain and bloody stools and died 18 hours later of cardiac arrest following an acute GI bleed. The decedent had no children by his second wife. He had twin minor children by his first wife after his marriage to his second wife. He spent every weekend with his first wife and children and never told them that he had remarried. The second wife knew of the twin children but had never met them or his first wife and accepted that he would spend every weekend with the first wife and children.
Settlement Discussions
No offers prior to one month before trial. The decedent had been a stock broker prior to death but was unemployed for a year before death due to a firm buy-out. Average earnings prior to death were $140,000 in 10 prior years.
Damages
Death of a husband and father of two minors and an adult son from a prior marriage.
Other Information
The case settled for $875,000 before mediator Jay Horton at Judicate West. At the request of defense counsel, the identity of all experts remains confidential.
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