$2.025 Million Jury Verdict for Missed Diagnosis of Heart Condition

Blume Goldfaden lawyer Michael Zerres, representing the widow of a 38-year old Perth Amboy man who died in hospital emergency room, obtained a $2.025 verdict in this wrongful death suit. The jury found both the doctors who treated him were negligent, but found only one’s negligence contributed to the death of Joseph Dehanes, thus reducing the award by 30%.

The victim, who had a history of kidney stones, experienced chest pain and numbness in his leg and was taken to the emergency room. Instead of treating him for a possible heart problem, physicians at Roritan Bay Medical Center only tested to detect kidney stones, a test which took four to six hours. During trial, Dr. Michael Rothman, acknowledged that the symptoms could have been caused by aortic dissection, but he never ordered chest x- ray or cardiogram.

An expert for the plaintiff said that Mr. Dehanes, had an 80% chance of survival, if he had been treated properly. Instead, the aorta ruptured into the pericardium, filling up with blood, which caused the heart to stop.