$1 Million Settlement for Wrong Diagnosis of Heart Condition

As jury selection was about to begin, the estate of a 52-year-old computer programmer, represented by attorney Michelle Kohut, agreed to a settlement of their lawsuit against Roseland Community Hospital for $1 million. The plaintiff went to the emergency room at Roseland with complaints of chest pain and was diagnosed as having a heart attack. The initial chest x-ray, taken shortly after her arrival, revealed an enlarged mediastinum which should have raised suspicion that an aortic dissection was occurring. She was not, however, treated for the dissection. The x-ray was either misread or not read at all and a short time later she died of an aortic dissection.