Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani Pittsburgh Partner Ed Olszewski and Associate Erica Kelly obtained a dismissal in a medical malpractice action, three days into a jury trial in Wheeling, West Virginia on behalf of the firm's client, an internal medicine physician.
The plaintiff, an emergency room (ER) physician, claimed that the defendant-physician, along with the nursing staff of the co-defendant hospital, delayed in transferring the plaintiff to a larger hospital for a heart catheterization when he began suffering a heart attack in the post-operative period after knee surgery. As a result of the delay, the plaintiff claimed that he suffered extensive heart damage that prevented him from returning to work as an ER physician. The plaintiff is 61 years old, and asserted a wage loss claim in excess of $2 million.
The firm's client, the plaintiff's consulting physician in the post-op period, maintained that he acted appropriately by interpreting an EKG, evaluating the patient, and immediately referring him to the on-call interventional cardiologist. Three days into the jury trial, the plaintiff struck a settlement with the co-defendant hospital, and agreed to voluntarily dismiss Gordon & Rees's client from the case, without any contribution to the settlement.