When people in Maryland take their loved ones to the emergency room, they expect the facility to act quickly and responsibly in the best interest of the patient. Unfortunately, sometimes a medical mistake leads to the patient's death. In a recent out-of-state case, a deceased's woman's family has sued a local hospital and doctor after she died, allegedly because she was not treated in a timely manner for cardiac arrest.
According to the family, the 49-year-old woman arrived at the hospital's emergency room with complaints of shortness of breath and pain in her chest. Disease of the coronary arteries was reportedly in her family history, and she was also suffering from obesity, fatigue, and hypertension. The plaintiffs said that, when the woman got to the hospital, staff completed an EKG, the results of which indicated that she was having a heart attack; however, staff told her to return to the facility's waiting room.
The family said that, afterward, a physician there did not examine the woman and did not have a consultation with a heart doctor concerning the matter. They claim that the woman ended up collapsing in the hospital's waiting room. They believe that she died due to medical malpractice.
The family is seeking financial damages for losing the enjoyment of life, pain and suffering and mental anguish. They are also pursuing damages for survival damages, medical expenses, funeral costs, emotional distress, lost income and lost wages. Compensatory damages may be awarded in this type of case involving a medical mistake in Maryland if there is proof that a hospital and/or doctor was not reasonably careful in treating a patient's medical problem.
