February Brings Cardiac-Related Medical Malpractice to Mind

February is American Heart Month.  This year, the American Heart Association is focusing on CPR during a cardiac emergency.  The Poppe Law Firm is no stranger to that topic, among many cardiac-related topics, as we have handled numerous cardiac cases at the firm.  Most notably, from 2011 through 2017 the firm litigated unnecessary cardiac procedure and device cases in Laurel and Boyd Counties, culminating in a 21.275-million-dollar verdict in August 2016.  In those cases, cardiac physicians and two rural hospitals were inserting unnecessary stents and pacemakers into patients and, in some cases, performing unnecessary bypass surgeries.  Both hospitals were fined by the federal government and some physicians lost their licenses and were criminally convicted of fraud. 

Other cardiac cases the firm has handled are cases of latent cardiac defects, where a test gives a doctor the indication something is wrong with the heart, but he or she never follows up on the test properly.  These cases tragically most often end in death, one in the death of a nineteen-year-old college athlete.  Other death cases are cases of undetected pulmonary emboli, blood clots that are not detected before fatally reaching the lungs.  In yet another type of cardiac-related case, the Poppe Law Firm got a 2.395-million-dollar jury verdict in an Emergency Treatment and Labor Act (“EMTALA”) case that stemmed from a patient’s chest pain and being turned away at a hospital cardiac-catheterization lab.  Lucky for that patient, the result was not fatal. 

February is a reminder to us all to get cardiac check-ups, and don’t be afraid to seek a second opinion.  The Poppe Law Firm has handled hundreds of cases where physicians or technicians have made mistakes, with catastrophic consequences.  If you or a loved one has been harmed by medical malpractice, call The Poppe Law Firm at 502-895-3400 for a free consultation this February.