The family doctor determined the patient to have mild tachycardia with blood oxygen saturation at 94%…medicalmalpracticelawyers.com, $5.5M Virginia Medical Malpractice Verdict, Oct 2024
The family doctor believed that the man’s shortness of breath was due to deconditioning (the man had significant mobility limitations due to thoracic decompression surgery he had about three and a half months prior that resulted in the man using a walker and a wheelchair). The family doctor attributed the man’s chest pain to GERD and his dizziness to possible orthostatic hypotension. Nonetheless, the family doctor ordered a D-Dimer test to rule out pulmonary embolism. However, the D-Dimer test was not performed on a stat basis; the result of the test was expected the following day.
About six hours later, while the man was at home, he collapsed; emergency responders were unable to resuscitate him. The next day, the family doctor received the result of the D-Dimer test, which was reportedly thirty times higher than normal.
The plaintiff’s experts reportedly testified during trial that the defendant family doctor violated the standard of care by failing to suspect acute pulmonary embolism based on the patient’s risk factors and his presenting signs and symptoms. Those experts also reportedly testified that the standard of care required the immediate transfer of the patient to the nearest emergency room so that the D-Dimer test could be completed on a stat basis and a chest CT-A obtained.
The defendant’s experts reportedly testified during trial that the patient did not meet the profile of a patient experiencing an acute pulmonary embolism: his chest pain was not related to his lungs, his vitals were consistent with those recorded during prior visits, and he did not appear ill during the visit. They attributed his death to a cardiac event, and not a pulmonary embolism (no autopsy was performed). They also reportedly testified that even if the man was sent to the emergency room, there was not sufficient time or resources to save his life.