California Medical Malpractice Law Blog

$9.9 million - Confidential largest medical malpractice settlement in California history; involved cardiac death of young executive.

Our wrongful death attorneys in San Francisco recently settled a case involving the death of an athletic 38-year-old executive, who stopped at a clinic on his way to the airport complaining of exert ional and resting chest "tightness," which was relieved by Advil. The EKG was normal; there were no cardiac risk factors. The doctor diagnosed chest muscle strain and allowed the decedent to fly on to Colorado and then Mexico. He died 7 days after the clinic visit. Unfortunately, his tissue was severely decomposed when it was returned to the United States. There was no evidence of myocardic infarction, but there was an 85% sclerotic lesion in the right coronary artery and congenital narrowing of the left coronary artery. We contended that the decedent died of myocardio- ischemia. Defendants argued that the decedent appeared healthy and in no distress and therefore the clinic symptoms were not cardiac and his death was probably from some other cause. Our wrongful death attorneys believe that this is the largest pre-judgment medical malpractice settlement in California history.