$450,000 Settlement to Estate for Doctor Gives Diet Pills for Heart Problem

• Date: Fall 1996
• Attorney: Michael Zerres
• Settlement: $450,000
• Practice Areas: Medical Malpractice, Contraindicated Medication, Failure to Treat Heart Disease, Failure to Refer

During a six-year period, a 58-year-old heart patient with cardiac symptoms was treated with diet pills despite abnormal EKGs, skipped heartbeats, irregular pulses, and dizziness, all consistent with cardiac disease.

The treating doctor never referred him to a cardiologist or provided medication to treat his cardiac articular sclerosis, a condition treatable by angioplasty. Instead, he prescribed prescription diet pills, Tenuate, which increases the heart beat and worsens the condition of someone with cardiac disease.

Just before he died, the patient complained of shortness of breath, pain in arm, neck, and nape. The doctor sent him home with a diuretic prescription, and two days later he suffered a fatal heart attack. Blume Donnelly associate Michael Zerres obtained a $450,000 settlement on behalf of his estate.