Ouch! ED Physician, fresh out of residency, hit with 4 million dollar lawsuit for missing heart attack.
I don't know the details of the case but from the info in the lay press I feel sorry for all involved. Dr. Stephen Heirendt, fresh out of residency two years ago, got hit with a 4 million dollar settlement after a 43 year old patient he evaluated and discharged home with chest pain NOS / bronchitis died of a heart attack.
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Sounds like the MI occurred 11 days post-ED visit. On the surface I can see how it could be easy to miss an atypical acute coronary syndrome and impending MI in a young person with a few risk factors and a negative work up. I'd like to know more details of the history and work up.
ReplyDeleteOn a semi-related note, I hate that medicine has become high volume work, which at least theoretically contributes to missed diagnoses.
I found this post accidentally while late night surfing and it was very upsetting to me. I trained with Dr Heirendt and know he is a diligent, smart, and caring person. If he could make this "error" then so could I. This supports my habbit of documenting to the pt and in the chart that an ER visit cannot fully exclude NSTEMI and unstable angina on the continuum of ACS and I recommend f/u with PCP/cards within 3 days to discuss further testing. Which I know is not realistic and which is extremely expensive. As a result I feel like a coward and fraud, blanketly trying to protect myself and lessening the value of my advice to pts.
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