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Senior Trial Partner Michael A. Sonkin, Partner Deborah A. Dyckman and Senior Associate Brian M. Frankoski, along with Jillian Kuper, successfully obtained a unanimous defense verdict in Kings County after a three-week trial. The plaintiff, on behalf of the decedent, alleged that MCB’s client, a cardiologist, failed to appreciate the significance of a moderate pericardial effusion in a patient who had undergone coronary artery bypass surgery two weeks earlier for myocardial infarction and diffuse coronary artery disease, and was allegedly presenting at a post-operative clinic visit with severe shortness of breath due to a slow bleed into the pericardium. It was claimed that the pericardial effusion in a patient with severe shortness of breath required immediate hospital admission and close monitoring to avoid progression to tamponade.
MCB maintained that the patient did not have severe shortness of breath given his normal heart rate and respiratory rate, lack of documented complaints, failure to present to an ER in the interim period of time, and normal cardiac function on echocardiogram despite the identified effusion. The defense further argued that this information demonstrated that the patient was not actively bleeding as of that post-operative visit and that admission was not warranted for a moderate pericardial effusion that was not impacting heart function. The patient was instructed to keep a previously scheduled appointment with his surgeon for two days later; however, he failed to appear for that appointment and died two days there after. Hospital records suggested the occurrence of a tamponade.
The plaintiff contended that the autopsy demonstrated thatthe patient died from progressive bleeding into the pericardium causing tamponade given the substantial amount of blood and clots found in the pericardium and chest. The defense denied the decedent died from a tamponade and instead maintained that the patient instead suffered from a repeat myocardial infarction given post mortem coronary artery occlusions found, with the presence of blood on autopsy attributable to a detached bypass graft following extensive CPR performed as part of the resuscitative effort. Following the lengthy trial, the jury deliberated for only one hour before returning their unanimous verdict for the defense.