A $3.45 million settlement was recently reached resolving a wrongful death lawsuit resulting from failure to diagnose and treat post-operative internal bleeding that led to the plaintiff’s death. In August 2009, eleven days after undergoing an operation to treat prostate cancer, the plaintiff returned to Trinitas Hospital in Elizabeth, New Jersey, presenting complaints of chest pain that was eventually attributed to a pulmonary embolism. The plaintiff suffered from acute abdominal pain that escalated in intensity, as well as an accelerated heart rate and a drop in blood pressure. Cardiac arrest was ultimately determined to be the cause of death.
According to the lawsuit, the physicians’ negligence included failure to identify severe internal bleeding and failure to order a blood transfusion, as well as failure to cease administration of blood-thinning medication the plaintiff was instructed to take following his surgery. The plaintiff’s attorneys attributed his demise to the physicians’ failure to implement these measures, contending that the plaintiff would have survived if doctors had pursued this course of action.
The law firm of O’Connor, Parsons, Lane & Noble has significant experience handling wrongful death cases. If a physician, hospital, nurse or medical technician has acted in a negligent or reckless manner that caused the death of a loved one, you are entitled to file a wrongful death claim to obtain a just settlement on behalf of the decedent. While no sum of money can sufficiently compensate the loss of a loved one, nor alleviate one’s grief, attorneys can recover economic damages to relieve overwhelming financial burdens due to the loss of income, exorbitant medical bills and funeral expenses.